Village Councils Excluded from Cleanliness Programme in South Waziristan, Workers Await Five Months' Salaries

WANA: Former chairman of Birmal tehsil, Siddiq Wazir, has questioned the exclusion of several village councils from the Pak Saf Cleanliness Programme in South Waziristan Lower and the non-payment of salaries to workers for the past five months.

He urged the deputy commissioner of South Waziristan Lower and senior officials of the Local Government Department to intervene and resolve the matter.

According to Mr Wazir, village councils including Musa Nika, Zalai, Saray Khawaray and others have been removed from the cleanliness programme, affecting the livelihoods of local workers.

He said residents of South Waziristan were already facing militancy, insecurity and unemployment, while the prevailing border situation had further reduced employment opportunities in Birmal tehsil.

Mr Wazir said the affected employees had performed their duties for five months but had yet to receive their salaries. He claimed that funds meant for the outstanding payments were available in the account of the assistant director of local government in South Waziristan Lower, but the workers had not been paid.

He questioned the grounds for withholding salaries when employees had already performed their duties.

He also said no formal notification had been issued from Peshawar regarding the termination of employees or suspension of their salaries. If any such decision had been taken, he said, the authorities should make the written orders public.

The former chairman accused some village council secretaries of administrative negligence, alleging that staff members had been kept at home instead of being assigned field duties, affecting cleanliness activities.

He said responsibility for any shortcomings should be fixed on the officials concerned rather than penalising all employees and entire village councils.

Mr Wazir also questioned the performance of the assistant director of local government, saying that despite having an office in Wana, the official did not regularly visit the affected areas.

He said officials should meet local residents and employees, examine their complaints and make decisions based on conditions on the ground.

"Decisions concerning the people and employees of South Waziristan should be made after visiting the affected areas, rather than sitting in offices in Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan or Tank," he said.

Mr Wazir demanded the immediate restoration of the affected village councils to the cleanliness programme, payment of five months' outstanding salaries and issuance of formal notifications concerning any administrative decisions affecting employees.

He also called for an impartial review of the performance of village council secretaries and other officials, protection of workers' jobs and sufficient time for the affected councils to improve their performance.

He said workers' salaries were their legal entitlement and further delays in payment were unjustified.