K-P sets up three new shelters homes
CM Mahmood Khan wants to provide free transport services to senior citizens
PHOTO: EXPRESS
PESHAWAR:
The provincial government announced on Monday that it has added three new shelters for the poor in the province, including in Abbottabad, Dera Ismail Khan and Swat.
This was disclosed in a meeting where the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Social Welfare department briefed K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan about the construction of the shelters.
The Social Welfare department secretary told the chief minister that the shelters have thus far offered a roof to some 17,914 homeless people.
The department said that apart from the three shelters set up, they were working on establishing shelters in Bannu, Mardan and Kohat in the settled districts while shelters are also being built in the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata) such as Wana in South Waziristan and the Khyber tribal district.
Moreover, he said that a drive to register senior citizens is currently underway and that thus far, they have managed to register some 0.785 million of some estimated 2.8 million senior citizens in the province. These people, the official said, will be provided with Senior Citizen Cards through which they can avail general financial assistance and assistance at healthcare facilities.
Furthermore, he said that as many as 6,000 senior citizens have been facilitated through special counters which have been set up in major hospitals of the province.
CM Mahmood directed to provide senior citizens with free transportation facilities throughout the province as well, especially in the under-construction Bus Rapid Transit project in Peshawar along with exempting them from standing in long queues at public places.
The chief minister further directed the relevant authorities to crack down against professional beggary in the province. In this regard, he suggested that a large number of beggars had arrived from other provinces, particularly in Peshawar.
In this regard, the spokesperson was told that a summary for a Vagrancy bill has been sent to the CM’s office for approval. The bill, the social welfare department suggested, is aimed at curbing professional beggary along with identifying the genuinely destitute people who require support from the provincial government.
During the meeting, it was disclosed that philanthropists had donated some Rs30 million during the month of Ramazan for the Ehsaas Dastarkhwans — charitable spreads — through which more than 400,000 people were facilitated.
The official further said that they have prepared a list of all such philanthropists who will be included in the managing board of shelter homes in the province.
Mahmood was also briefed about the initiatives taken by the social welfare department to rehabilitate drug addicts and the efforts to establish detoxification centres at the 11 rehabilitation centres across the province.
The chief minister was told that because the centres extend treatment at no cost, they were seeing patients from as far as Punjab and even other provinces of the country turn up.
Mahmood, however, stated that rehabilitation was futile because most users relapse. For a more permanent solution, he suggested devising a strong legal framework against drug suppliers to eliminate the drug problem at the source.
In this regard, he called for prompt follow-ups for a bill against crystal methamphetamines (also known as ice).
Deliberating on the economic empowerment of women, Mahmood was told that the social welfare department was working on developing ‘Model Skills Development Centres’ in five districts. In this regard, the centre in Lakki Marwat has already started working whereas the project concept-I (PC-I) for the remaining centres have been finalised and work on them is expected to begin soon.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 20th, 2019.
The provincial government announced on Monday that it has added three new shelters for the poor in the province, including in Abbottabad, Dera Ismail Khan and Swat.
This was disclosed in a meeting where the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Social Welfare department briefed K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan about the construction of the shelters.
The Social Welfare department secretary told the chief minister that the shelters have thus far offered a roof to some 17,914 homeless people.
The department said that apart from the three shelters set up, they were working on establishing shelters in Bannu, Mardan and Kohat in the settled districts while shelters are also being built in the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata) such as Wana in South Waziristan and the Khyber tribal district.
Moreover, he said that a drive to register senior citizens is currently underway and that thus far, they have managed to register some 0.785 million of some estimated 2.8 million senior citizens in the province. These people, the official said, will be provided with Senior Citizen Cards through which they can avail general financial assistance and assistance at healthcare facilities.
Furthermore, he said that as many as 6,000 senior citizens have been facilitated through special counters which have been set up in major hospitals of the province.
CM Mahmood directed to provide senior citizens with free transportation facilities throughout the province as well, especially in the under-construction Bus Rapid Transit project in Peshawar along with exempting them from standing in long queues at public places.
The chief minister further directed the relevant authorities to crack down against professional beggary in the province. In this regard, he suggested that a large number of beggars had arrived from other provinces, particularly in Peshawar.
In this regard, the spokesperson was told that a summary for a Vagrancy bill has been sent to the CM’s office for approval. The bill, the social welfare department suggested, is aimed at curbing professional beggary along with identifying the genuinely destitute people who require support from the provincial government.
During the meeting, it was disclosed that philanthropists had donated some Rs30 million during the month of Ramazan for the Ehsaas Dastarkhwans — charitable spreads — through which more than 400,000 people were facilitated.
The official further said that they have prepared a list of all such philanthropists who will be included in the managing board of shelter homes in the province.
Mahmood was also briefed about the initiatives taken by the social welfare department to rehabilitate drug addicts and the efforts to establish detoxification centres at the 11 rehabilitation centres across the province.
The chief minister was told that because the centres extend treatment at no cost, they were seeing patients from as far as Punjab and even other provinces of the country turn up.
Mahmood, however, stated that rehabilitation was futile because most users relapse. For a more permanent solution, he suggested devising a strong legal framework against drug suppliers to eliminate the drug problem at the source.
In this regard, he called for prompt follow-ups for a bill against crystal methamphetamines (also known as ice).
Deliberating on the economic empowerment of women, Mahmood was told that the social welfare department was working on developing ‘Model Skills Development Centres’ in five districts. In this regard, the centre in Lakki Marwat has already started working whereas the project concept-I (PC-I) for the remaining centres have been finalised and work on them is expected to begin soon.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 20th, 2019.