PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has unveiled an 11-point “Awami Agenda” outlining special tasks for its departments and district administrations to improve governance and service delivery.

The initiative focuses on “public good, price and quality control, cleanliness, hygiene, public convenience, service delivery, sports, youth development, and revenue issues,” with the commissioners and deputy commissioners given administrative and financial powers and timelines for its implementation, according to documents.

The government departments will help district administrations execute the agenda, according to an official statement issued here after a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur.

The participants included chief secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, additional chief secretary (home) Abid Majeed, inspector general of police Akhtar Hayat Khan, administrative secretaries, divisional commissioners, and deputy commissioners of all districts.

CM orders immediate implementation of 11-point ‘Awami Agenda’

The meeting decided the administrative secretaries of government departments would immediately take action on the reports and recommendations of the deputy commissioners.

Officials briefed participants about the Awami Agenda and its implementation along with responsibilities and powers for authorities regarding it.

Official documents said all officials would ensure their availability in offices for visitors two hours daily and do the assigned tasks within the given time, while DCs would ensure open kutcheris, including at least one in far-flung areas of their respective districts.

“To ensure cleanliness and hygiene, DCs have been directed to chalk out sanitation plans at tehsil municipal administration levels. In addition, they’re directed to carry out a special cleanliness drive for urban areas as well as cleaning and de-silting of all street drains and blocked sewage lines and removal of garbage from all empty plots and illegal garbage dumping sites,” a document said.

It added that DCs would ensure the early fixing of open manholes, dysfunctional streetlights, remove illegal speed breakers, illegal parking stands, improvement and maintenance of waiting sheds and water filtration plants, fitness inspection of rides at amusement parks and chairlifts, and removal of hoardings.

The documents showed that in the revenue sector, officials would ensure implementation of computerisation of land records, identification of state, government and auqaf lands and their GIS mapping, and removal of encroachments.

Regarding good governance and service delivery, the meeting decided to start administrative inspections with a special focus on areas declared “problematic” by the independent monitoring units.

The inspections will cover educational facilities including schools and colleges, health facilities, including the night inspection of 24/7 facilities, technical and vocational training institutes, public libraries, veterinary hospitals, parks and sports facilities. Also, officials will identify facilities starting with education and health which are under- and overstaffed for workforce rationalisation, according to an official statement.

It added that in order to ensure public interest and removal of nuisance, strict action would be taken against violators of the government’s minimum wage award.

Also, officials will ensure sealing of illegal crush plants.

The meeting decided that administrative secretaries, deputy commissioners and commissioners would regularly chair meetings to check the implementation of the Awami Agenda, while the chief secretary would examine it on a fortnightly basis and the chief minister once a month.

The chief minister told participants that the role of district administration was paramount in implementation of the agenda.

“We [the government] have enhanced the financial and administrative powers of DCs to implement this agenda,” he said.

Mr Gandapur said people’s most issues could be resolved if the administration paid attention to them.

He ordered immediate action on the agenda to ensure good governance to the people’s relief.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2024