LG reps in 17 KP districts take oath

PESHAWAR: The mayor of the provincial capital, Zubair Ali, vowed to work with stakeholders, including provincial government, for providing better basic services to the masses as the local government representatives in 17 districts of the province took oath of their offices on Tuesday.

In his maiden press conference after inauguration as mayor, Zubair Ali discussed the pressing issues, including dengue virus, traffic management, provision of clean drinking water to residents, women development, drug control and revenue generation.

“We will take steps to control the spread of dengue virus,” he said, adding that suggestions from masses, media and experts were welcome in protecting the lives of the residents.

He also urged the masses to extend cooperation to their elected representatives in identifying the hotspots and eliminating the virus.

The Mayor also expressed concern over the law and order situation and vowed that the city government devised a plan with the support of people from all schools of thought for maintaining law and order and restoring the past glory of the city. He said that steps would also be taken to make Peshawar the city of flowers again.

He said that the residents of the provincial capital were drinking contaminated water for a very long time. “If we conduct frequent testing in all parts of the district we could find a large number of hepatitis patients,” he claimed, adding that this could be because of contaminated water.

He said that the Capital Metropolitan government would devise a plan to replace all the rusted pipelines with HTP pipe to ensure clean drinking water to the people.

Zubair Ali said that the city government would focus on the women ‘s development and would establish educational institutes in the rural areas to provide educational facilities to them in their respective areas.

He said that drug addiction among the youth was a matter of serious concern and that the Capital Metropolitan government with the support of industrialists from across the country would establish rehabilitation centers and hospitals for drug addicts. “We have established a donor board for the purpose which included prominent industrialists and traders from all parts of the country,” he said.

He said that the plans for facilitating small and medium enterprises would be made to encourage youth towards entrepreneurship that would help create jobs in the city and would increase the revenue of the government. He said that he would utilize all resources to work with all stakeholders regardless of political affiliation to provide maximum facilities to the masses.

The mayor termed the traffic management a serious issue and added that the government would construct more underpasses to ensure smooth flow of traffic. He also supported the ongoing drive against unregistered vehicles.

Zubiar Ali said that the provincial government had strengthened the local government system and expressed the hope that the government would support him in providing basic facilities to the masses. He said that all steps would be taken in accordance with the local customs and tradition under the supervision of the provincial government.

Meanwhile, the local government representatives in the 17 districts took oath of their offices. The first phase of the LG elections were held on December 19. The second phase of the LG elections are scheduled to be held on March 31.