20000214

Law and order

situation improves

in B'stan: Mengal

ISLAMABAD: Governor of Balochistan Amir-ul-Mulk Mengal has expressed the satisfaction that the law and order situation in the province had improved since October last year when the new government took over.

In an exclusive interview with Pakistan Television, the governor said the law and order situation which was getting worse during tenure of previous governments, had come under control and the people were once again feeling secure and protected.

He said, he realised that without improvement in law and order and secure environment for the common man, the government could not undertake developmental activities.

Therefore, government took serious notice of the situation and initiated various steps to bring improvements, he added.

It is necessary that people and notables of the province extended cooperation to government to check crimes and resolve conflicts and end rivalries among different tribes, Mengal said.

The government said that particular attention had been paid to make the police force more efficient and active.

While to resolve the on-going tribal conflicts, the tribal notables were contacted and involved, he added.

During the last three months, on different occasions police nabbed culprits within hours of the commission of crime and the arrest of dacoits who looted Rs 40 million from a bank in Mastoong was a case in point, the governor said.

Mengal said, government was co-ordinating with different security agencies to fight crime and maintain law and order.

He said, provision of a clean, efficient and honest administration tops his agenda and government had taken steps to cut down the number of departments and to initiate right-sizing.

In the past, the administrative structure was overburdened and the cabinet was over-sized which had a negative financial impact, Mengal added.

The governor said, "through right-sizing and mergers we decreased the departments from 26 to 13, but also kept the bureaucratic set-up effective and viable, without affecting its overall performance."

There was also reshuffling of bureaucrats as dishonest and incompetent officials were replaced while honest and competent ones were given more responsible positions, he added.

He assured that the intended reforms in bureaucracy would bring abut a healthy change and make the set-up more disciplined and efficient.

A request had also been made to the federal government to send officers to meet provincial needs, Mengal added.

Governor Balochistan said that attention had also been focused to improve the performance of the district administration, adding a number of cases had been initiated against the corrupt officers to cleanse bureaucracy.ÑAPP