Women development projects in cold storage

No progress yet on women hostels, separate cells in jails

ISLAMABAD : Several projects meant for facilitating women in Balochistan – including setting up of a women enclave, hostels for working women and special cells for them in jails – have yet to see the light of the day despite their approval by competent authorities two years back.

Separate cells for female inmates at different jails in Quetta, Mach, Dera Murad Jamali, Khuzdar and Gadani have not yet been set up, sources told APP on Tuesday.

There has been no progress either on the establishment of centres for women in Quetta and three new Special Beginning Birth and Women’s Centers (SBBWC) in Makran, Naseerabad and Zhob under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) at a cost of Rs120 Million, according to the sources.

Similarly, divisional women centres in Quetta, Sibi and Khuzdar, women enclave in Quetta and working women hostels were in the cold storage too, said the sources.



The women belonging to the provincial capital were still waiting for the promised pink bus service and no funds were earmarked for the project in the current fiscal year, they added.

According to Aisha Nasrin, a working woman, females in the conservative Balochistan province are even deprived of basic civic needs.

She laments that no seats are reserved for women in public buses due to which they have to face severe problems while travelling. She calls upon the government to establish baby care centres in Quetta and other cities of the province.

Women Development Secretary Sadiq Mandokhail told APP that her department was trying to get land in Quetta for the various women-related projects. He said that priority was to provide safe working environment for women.

Sidra Khan, a student, says that women are facing severe accommodation problems due to lack of government-run hostels and high rents of private accommodation despite being sub-standard. She urges government to find a proper solution to the accommodation problem.