After the departure of Ghulam Mohammed Mohtaram and coming in of Arif Khan as new Sindh home secretary, there are more transfers in the offing, sources told Business Recorder on Wednesday. They said that Mohtaram was not maintaining steady relations with Home Minister Akhtar Zamin for quite some time.
They said that there was truth in the news that Mohtaram's contract was to come to an end on January 31, 2008, but there had been two such occasions earlier and on each occasion he had managed to get extension. They said that the new incumbent would take long to take into grip the prevailing law and order situation in the province.
They said that Chief Minister Abdul Qadir Halapota had already expressed dissatisfaction on the performance of agriculture and irrigation departments. They said that proposals were there to replace the secretaries of these departments and bring in 'high achievers' so that the ongoing development projects could be completed. Sources said that the heads of these two departments have already been informed about their performance and were asked to improve the working of their offices.
They said that still the tail-end farmers are without irrigation water; dredging of canals and lining of watercourses are incomplete; and there is no help from the agriculture department to small farmers growing wheat.
Along with these two secretaries, there are likely changes in the police department. Sources said that the IGP Sindh had been asked to review the performance of officers of BPS 18 and above and recommend necessary adjustments.
They said that the law and order situation in Sindh was deteriorating with the passage of each day. There is apprehension of acts of terrorism during Muharram.
They said that the number of security personnel was being increased and the deployment of police and rangers was being given priority. However, people from sensitive agencies would also be there to oversee security arrangements, they added.
In reply to a question, sources said that SHOs would be held responsible for acts of terrorism in their jurisdiction. However, foolproof security measures would be taken to ensure a peaceful Muharram.
They said that after the rescheduling of general election date, candidates of the erstwhile coalition partners in the Sindh cabinet have begun to exert pressure for postings and transfers of their favourites in their constituencies. Chances were that they would hardly get any favourable response from the chief minister, they added.
Comments
Comments are closed.