PESHAWAR: With growing traffic congestion irking all time high to the citizenz of Peshawar, PTI’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government decides a landmark project for Peshawariites.

The provincial government has planned to run ‘Sky Train from Chamkani to Hayatabad area of the city.

According to officials, the project would require, however, massive funding and would provide relief to locals regarding traffic flow.

“The World Bank has shown interest in starting the Sky Train project in the provincial capital of the province,” they further said.

Senior Minister Sirajul Haq has confirmed that the provincial government is planning the launching of sky train for which the WB has shown interest.

Peshawar, July 28 2013 (PPI-OT): The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Health and Spokesman of the provincial government, Shaukat Ali Yousafzai has said that the PTI led provincial government would install Robot Surgery machines in the tertiary hospitals of Peshawar to introduce new trends in the field of surgery in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding that necessary training for the surgeons would be arranged for the purpose.

This, he stated, while addressing the handing over ceremony of medical equipments of Rs.70 million to the heads of different departments of Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) donated by UNHCR at KTH Peshawar on Saturday. Provincial Minister for Local Government, Inayataullh Khan, MPAs Mian Khaliq ur Rahman and Fazle Elahi, Chief Executive KTH Dr. Umar Ayub, MS Zafar Iqbal Afridi, heads of different departments of KTH,

Provincial chief, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda), Javed Iqbal Khattak, is working on the preparation of five-year development plan for three potential sectors of mineral, horticulture and tourism of the province. Talking to Business Recorder, he said that the development plan is being prepared in consultations with the stakeholders and would be shared with the provincial government. 

He said that in mineral sector, the authority is focusing on four different minerals including marble, chromites, gypsum and coal. On the other hand, he said the authority is also increasing focus on educated youth, particularly the graduate of vocational institutions to refine their ideas and take them towards commercialisation and convert it into a proper form of business.

In this connection, he said the authority would cooperate with provincial government to extend financial assistance to the upcoming cohort of the professional educational institutions and provide opportunity for the people in

PESHAWAR - In a bid to maintain law and order and combat the growing trends of violence, terrorism and militancy, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police are working on setting up a Directorate of Counter Terrorism and Intelligence (DCTI) as well as a special force for carrying out prompt action wherever needed, be it the settled areas or the Tribal Areas. Talking to Pakistan Today, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Ihsan Ghani said intelligence forces played a key role in combating criminal and terrorist elements. “But unfortunately in the last several years, intelligence gathering bodies have been neglected, thus causing hardships in combating crime,” Ghani said. He recalled that the British rulers, while introducing the policing system, had also set up intelligence wings at the police station level, which was also part of the district security branch. Ghani said against the 2,000 police officials, the number of intelligence agencies’ personnel was very limited. “On such grounds, Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak agreed to strengthen the intelligence force, which will help the government in combating not only militancy and terrorism but also counter day-to-day crime.” To a question, the IGP said the new intelligence body, DCTI, was being established after restructuring the existing bodies such as the special branch and Directorate of Counter Terrorism. “The district security branch will be merged in the new body while some of the special branch police functions and responsibilities could also be transferred to it.” This new DCTI will be directly answerable to the IGP. Similarly, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police IGP said they were focusing on revival of the existing resources within different wings of the police force. “In this respect, efforts are underway for revival of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). This process will be soon completed,” he said, adding that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police were aware of their responsibilities at this crucial stage. Referring to the problems on the boundaries between settled districts of the province and the Tribal Areas, Ghani said “basically it was the responsibility of the Frontier Constabulary but unfortunately over the years, its contingents have been assigned other tasks such as guarding embassies, government complexes and offices throughout the country”, adding, however that now efforts were being made for the return of the FC contingents, which might be helpful in bringing the border regions under control. He said a special force was also being set up for taking prompt and timely action wherever needed. - See more at: http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2013/07/24/news/national/kp-govt-planning-dcti-special-force-for-countering-terrorism/#sthash.tSGWFPS0.dpuf

PESHAWAR, July 22: The provincial government has taken control of the UNICEF-sponsored polio mobilization staff to streamline advocacy programme and create demand for vaccination against polio, according to sources.

Previously the mobilization staffers worked with polio programme of health department but they were managed by UNICEF which had employed them.

“The government has started issuing identity cards to social mobilization officers, who worked under UNICEF until now. They would be treated like regular employees of the health department. The health department will be able to take action against them,” officials said.

A report recently sent by UNICEF to donor agencies says that issuing of cards will boost up security of Com Net staff besides inculcating in them a sense of the programme’s ownership. It says that the staff will come under government and it will have no link with UNICEF.

Sources said that the staff had also been facing security problems in Fata.

UNICEF, which is supporting polio campaign under an agreement with Pakistan and CHIP Training and Consulting, created Communication Network (Com Net) to create demand for oral polio vaccine (OPV) in high risk districts of the country two years ago.

The recruitment of the staffers, who get lucrative salaries, cars with drivers, fuel charges, cellular phones and laptop, had drawn criticism from the district administration and health department. The staff was placed under the provincial and Fata health departments to utilize its services.Prior to the new arrangement, the staff worked under the UNICEF with health department to scale up awareness about vaccination in the province but the latter often complained about its utility due to which it was placed on its disposal.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata had taken 200 and 165 communication officers respectively to utilise their services. “Their performance was not up to the mark. The provincial and Fata health authorities objected to their appointments because they wanted roles in the recruitment process,” sources said.

The district health officers (DHOs) were not satisfied with their work because they hadn’t any control over them, sources said. “The number of refusals had soared. The Com Net staff stayed away from duty places due to security reasons. They will now be working with government employees and will face disciplinary action, like other employees, if they fail to work,” officials said.

They would get salaries from UNICEF but would work under the government, they said. “We have cut down refusals which had gone from 22,000 in 2012 to 35,000 in 2013 due to lack of mobilization activities,” they added.

Officials said that the move was aimed at managing mobilization activities more effectively. “Our staff worked in high-risk union councils of Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan, Nowshera and Lakki Marwat. Besides the existing number, 100 are being appointed to deploy them where needed,” a relevant official said.

Fata has recorded 12 polio cases, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with five cases of the total 21 countrywide in 2013. Due to existence of virus, the World Health Organisations had been calling for effective immunisation to cover all children.

Dr Jan Baz Afridi, head of provincial immunisation programme, told Dawn that the decision had been made on the demand of the health department.

The Com Net staff would now work in provincial communication technical committee recently formed to apply brakes on refusals against polio vaccine, he said. “We will be employing localized strategies to improve immunisation and prevent childhood diseases,” he said.

He said that it would improve coordination and they would be able to run immunisation campaigns efficiently. “We are in polio eradication phase and we need to have good quality campaigns because vaccination of all children till five years is the only solution to achieve polio-free status,” Dr Afridi said.