Gandapur wants institutions to remain ‘neutral’

MARDAN: Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Saturday urged the ‘institutions’ to remain neutral as the incompetent rulers were earning a bad name for them.

“I request the institutions to remain neutral as the incumbent rulers lack the guts to pull the country out of crises and the people believe that you have brought them to power,” he said while talking to reporters after inaugurating the new Police Lines here. He inaugurated the first phase of the Police Lines building in Mardan.

The first phase of the new building of Police Lines houses administration block, staff barracks, residential hostel and other allied facilities completed at a cost of Rs395 million.

The chief minister said that the KP police rendered countless sacrifices for restoring peace in the region. “We are proud of the sacrifices of police. We salute their bravery, their resolve, commitment and professional enthusiasm”.

He maintained that despite the untoward situation and multiple challenges, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police played the role of frontline force in the war against terrorism, adding that a large number of police personnel laid down their lives for the sake of this land. “We salute the martyrs and veterans of police. We request the traffic police not to issue challan to the poor while issuing tickets to the ones with big vehicles.”

He added that in spite of terrorism, the policemen were doing their best work, saying that the issues about the package of martyrs will be presented in the provincial assembly. The chief minister said the government would give plots of land to the families of martyred polio workers, police and teachers.

He said that maintaining law and order was the top-most priority of his government, adding that initiatives were underway for strengthening the police department as well as transforming the overall policing in line with the contemporary needs and requirements.

Meanwhile, the chief minister was briefed about the various development projects being executed in Mardan. Speaking on this occasion, the chief minister said that it was a policy decision of his government that the ongoing development projects across the province would be completed on priority basis. He said the government would ensure to utilize the available resources for the benefit of people.

He said the provincial government clearly determined and fixed its priorities regarding completion of development projects, adding that some 600 development projects had been identified which would be completed by the end of this year.

Gandapur announced Rs1 billion for each provincial constituency and said that development schemes purely on need basis should be proposed and carried out under this fund. He said that the entire process of these projects including the PC-l and tenders would be carried out at local level so as to ensure that the projects were finalized and implemented in accordance with needs and aspirations of local people.

The chief minister said the decisions taken in the second meeting of the provincial apex committee would be implemented in letter and spirit. He made it clear that it was already decided in the first meeting of the apex committee to strengthen the police department, improve law and order and eradicate smuggling and other illegal spectrum.