Financial crunch: ‘Rs1.6b dog training project deferred’

The costly plan put on hold after the Planning Commission raises objections.

ISLAMABAD:

The defence ministry had been working on a dog training project costing Rs1.6 billion which was deferred after the Planning Commission raised objections over its cost in the wake of current cash crunch faced by the government.

Giving details of the project after lawmaker Zafar Ali Shah raised the issue during the question hour in the National Assembly, Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar said that his ministry was asked to review the project and bring down the cost of canine training.

The lower house of parliament was informed that the plan had been drawn up to set up a national canine centre under a presidential directive.

The proposal for the project was forwarded to the Planning Commission before getting the approval of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP).

During deliberations, the CWDP deferred the project with an advice to review the cost estimates. Some objections were also raised by the Planning Commission and the defence ministry was told to remove them before presenting the project before the CDWP again.

The defence ministry informed the National Assembly that currently, it was reviewing the project.

Justifying the huge cost, the ministry said that the Pakistan army was only institution running its own canine breeding centre in Rawalpindi. Apart from meeting the army’s requirement and despite severe resource constraints, it has partly been able to meet the demand of other organisations and law-enforcement agencies.

However, the increasing need for security dogs “warrants the establishment of a national canine centre…Developed countries in particular have state-of-the-art canine training institutions, facilitating law-enforcement agencies to exploit the potential of dogs to detect explosive materials and drugs. (If set up,) The national canine centre will be able to meet the needs of military and paramilitary forces. Pakistan Army’s canine resources are not only helping security agencies inside Pakistan but also working with United Nations (peacekeepers abroad). Upon seeing the performance…of the canines, the president of Pakistan has given the directive to set up the national canine centre to meet domestic requirements”.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th,  2011.