PESHAWAR: The participants of a public hearing on problems and issues in the education, health, water and sanitation sectors on Tuesday put forward suggestions for improving the situation and making the government departments more accessible to the public.
Representatives from education and health departments, civil society and councillors attended the hearing. It was arranged by Centre for Governance and Public Accountability (CGPA) under the Social Audit Project.
The public representatives asked questions about hardships and shortcomings in the government departments. These pertained to provision of services like teachers, doctors and paramedics’ duties and lack of facilities as well as the misuse of schools by the landlords.
The representative from departments concerned, including Gul Raj, Assistant District Officer (Female) Education Department, Peshawar, Kiramat, Sub-Divisional Officer, Public Health Engineering Department, and Arif, zonal manager of Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) noted down the complaints and responded to the questions.
The participants agreed to the point that public awareness was needed for bringing improvement in the society. There was consensus that it was the responsibility of the state to provide basic amenities of life to all the citizens. It was seen as very essence of good governance to maintain a steady and sustainable flow of development to all citizens fairly and equally without any discrimination.
They said that the public at large was the focal point of all development initiatives. The participants said since citizens make contribution to government by paying taxes for all these provisions that’s why it was their right to take on service providers and elected representatives in accountability for their money spent under various heads of developments.