Notification issued: Information directorate back in business

With the new notification coming into effect, all previous employees of directorate will return with immediate effect

PESHAWAR:

The previously-defunct Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Directorate of Information and Public Relations was restored on Friday.

According to a notification issued by the K-P Establishment and Administration department, also posted on http://www.infokhyberpakhtunkhwa.gov.pk, all four notifications issued in July 2014 readjusting the directorate’s staffers in other departments under a downsizing policy have been retracted. With the new notification coming into effect, all previous employees of the information directorate will return with immediate effect.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government had implemented the downsizing policy last year, moving around 140 directorate staffers to other departments, in a bid to increase the efficiency of government machinery. Government sources said the decision was unpopular with the people hence PTI Chairperson Imran Khan decided to restore the directorate. The restoration was announced by K-P Minister for Information and Higher Education Mushtaq Ghani last month but the awaited notification was issued on Friday.

FATA information directorate

Following suit, the FATA Secretariat has also decided to set up its own information department. Sources say Rs133.85 million has been allocated for the FATA Directorate of Information and Public Relations.

A secretariat official said the decision was taken during the 7th meeting of the FATA Development Working Party (FDWP). “The department will highlight development projects undertaken by the government and will help build a positive image of the region,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2015