Under the Eighteenth Amendment,the federal government, as per its promise,has devolved thecomplete controlof seventeenministries and theirattacheddepartments and divisionsfrom Islamabadto the provinces. With the devolution ofsuch ministries/ departments/divisions to the provinces, the load of workhas furtherincreased in the provinces for majority of such devolvedministries/departments have already beenworking at the provincial levels with already insufficient funds and paucity of staff (both officers and officials). In order to run the affairs of allthe devolved ministries/departments in an effective and smooth manner, there is a greater need to increase funds, staff and working capacity of the officers working in these ministries.Sufficient funds should be provided to these devolved ministries/departments so that these are able to procure much needed equipments and other stuff for effective running of the affairs of their ministries. For meeting the shortage of staff in the devolvedministries, different vacant posts in different scales should be filled on urgent basis by giving promotions to both officers and officials. Besides this, new recruitments in these ministries/departments for different scales should be made on expeditious basis through their respective provincial Public Service Commissionsso that the vacuum of officers/officials in these ministries/ departments is filled accordingly. Different capacity building courses should be introducedby all the provinces on emergency basis to develop working skills of both officers and officials of the devolved ministries/departments. If abovemeasures are taken seriously by the provinces,I am sure all thedevolved ministries wouldstart functioningin a smooth manner. Otherwise, these added ministries/departments would further add to the miseries of common people of the country in the form of non-redressal of their even genuinegrievances in these ministries/departments. ABDUL SAMAD SAMO, Karachi, July 11.