Move to replace nazims: audit teams start scanning district, tehsil council records

On the direction of Punjab government, the audit teams are now working in Multan and other districts and scanning the record to trace discrepancies in the working of these heads at the basic tier of the governance, sources said here on Tuesday.
Punjab government has started tightening the noose around the District and Tehsil Nazims in the province by opening up the audit inquiry into the affairs of these heads at the grass-roots tier of governance introduced by the President Musharraf. Most of these heads, both at district and tehsil levels, have allegiance with the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid).
After sealing off all the record and funds at the disposal of the District and Tehsil Nazims throughout the province on the direction of Punjab Chief Minister Dost Mohammad Khosa, the District Coordination Officers are practically running the affairs, sources in the district government Rawalpindi said.
They said that the audit staff, under the DCOs of the respective districts, is engaged in scanning the record of these set-ups at basic tier to find out the irregularities committed by them so that they could be penalised.
Sources said that the game plan of the Punjab government is to dislodge these Nazims on charges of corruption and misuse of power and to get persons of their own choice elected as Naib Nazims, with a little maneuvering in the District and Tehsil Councils to be installed as acting Nazims for the makeshift arrangement so that they would get time to get persons of their choice to be installed as heads of these bodies at grass-roots tier of governance.
In reply to a question, sources said that the government is in no mood to wind up this system of governance at grass-roots level and, with little amendment and installation of their blue-eyed persons as heads of this set-up at district and tehsil levels, the same system would remain in vogue.