TIMERGARA: The people of Samar Bagh area on Tuesday complained about prolonged power outages, overcharging by transporters, shortage of staff at local Nadra office, and absence of postmortem service at local hospi-tals.

The complaints were made during a c o m m u n i t y empowerment r o u n d t a bl e organised by the Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment (DTCE) in collaboration with the government of Netherlands at Samar Bagh police station.

The chairmen and vice chairmen of the union public safetycommittees and Insaf committees in nine union councils of Samar Bagh, local police officials and elders attended the event.

DTCE manager (field operations) Rohullah, Idara Khidmat Khalq Talash executive director Dr Noor Mohammad, District Bar Association Timergara president Jehan Bahadar, Public Safety Committee Samar Bagh chairman Sarbiland Khan spoke on the occasion.

The people complained that electric supply remained suspended for long hours daily to their misery.

They said their repeated complaints to the electric supply company had fallen on deaf ears.

The people also complained local hospitals had no postmortem facility, while the government transporters overcharges commuters despite a tangible decrease in fuel prices over the last four months.

They said the local Nadra office was understaffed.

The people demanded early corrective measures by the relevant authorities.

Addressing the forum, DTCE manager Rohullah said all public complaints were being processed for dispatch to the relevant departments in writing for resolution.

He said his organisation had provided modern electronic devices, including computers, power generators and uninterrupted power supply units to Samar Bagh, Munda and Mayar police stations in Lower Dir.

`This project will help bridge the gap between the police and the community,` he said.Other speakers urged police to register FIRs against suspects after thorough investigation saying this will help prevent injustice to anyone.

The bar association president said people of Samar Bagh would be provided with free legal aid for early resolution of complaints.

CLERKS WARN: The All Pakistan Clerks` Association Lower Dir chapter on Tuesday warned that it would stage sit-ins outside the deputy commissioner`s offices after Feb 8 if the district accounts of ficer (DAO) of Lower Dir was not removed.

The warning was issued during a meeting held at Balambat with APCA Lower Dir president Shair Tajak in the chair.

The association`s cabinet members and clerical staff of government departments and organisations attended the meeting.

The APCA president alleged that DAO Lower Dir Sarzamin Khan had long been delaying the promotion of clerks in the district and upgrade of their posts.

He said the provincial accountant general had ordered the promotion of clerks and upgrade of their posts in the province and the order had been implemented in all districts except Lower Dir.

Mohammad Shair said the Lower Dir deputy commissioner too had written a letter to the relevant officials for necessary action on the matter, but to no avail.

He warned clerks would boycott duty and stage sit-ins outside the deputy commissioner`s offices after Feb 9 if the DAO was not removed.