ABBOTTABAD, Feb 7: Additional secretary local government and rural development department Ahsan Ali Khan has said that the NWFP government would boost its activities in the field of birth registration with the collaboration of Plan Pakistan.

Speaking as chief guest at a training workshop organised by the Plan Pakistan here on Tuesday, he said from the legal point of view birth registration had now become compulsory and added that the provincial government was making efforts to implement this obligation to other districts of the province.

It may be mentioned here that the NWFP government with the cooperation of Plan Pakistan is carrying out a pilot project on birth registration in the four districts of the province, including Abbottabad, Mardan, Nowshera and Swabi.

The workshop discussed developing monitoring indicators and progress matrix. The participants formulated strategies on reporting system of the vital data collected through the activities of the pilot project on birth registration. The birth registration officers would also be trained on how to report BR activities to the government line departments active in population welfare, education, and health and child welfare spheres.

The birth registration officers attended the workshop included Safdar Raza and Jamshed Chishti from Abbottabad; Mohammad Iqbal and Ashraf Ali from Mardan, Wajid Ali and Tahir Mohammad Khan from Nowshera and Swabi respectively.

The deliberations, it is hoped, would result in better understanding of the issue of birth registration among the masses and the government circles in particular.

Meanwhile, a meeting to develop monitoring indicators and reporting system of the activities of pilot project on birth registration was held here on Tuesday.