The Department of Planning at Chipata City Council has been banned from handling matters to do with land because of irregularities reported by Chipata residents.
Chipata Mayor, Sinoya Mwale told Breeze News that this is in an effort to bring transparency in the administration of land in Chipata.
Mr. Mwale says his office has received numerous complaints from people wanting to acquire land in Chipata of not being well assisted by authorities in the planning department.
He says the process of acquiring land takes too long to be completed which should not be the case and this has forced him to make changes in the planning department.
Mr. Mwale says the office of the Town clerk will now take up land issuance matters at the council so that members of the public may be saved accordingly.
And Mr. Mwale has appealed to the Land Department at the Provincial Administration to be putting the interest of the people first, when handling land matters so that such complaints do not arise.