January 9, 2003	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 5, 1423

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BAJUAR, Jan 8: NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has said the government is giving priority to the uplift of tribesmen, and Rs260 million have been earmarked during the current year for carrying out development schemes in Bajuar agency.

Speaking at a jirga here on Tuesday, he said the women literacy rate was only four per cent against the 14 per cent of the men, which he said was a matter of grave concern.

The tribesmen, he deplored, gave no attention to education and remained engrossed in feuds with each other.

He also said the government was alive to the problems of the tribesmen and was making every effort to bring them at par with the people of the settled parts of the country.

The governor told the jirga that three colleges for boys and a degree college for girls would be established in Bajuar agency this year with Rs300 million. To provide healthcare facilities to the people, he said that two specialists in each category of medical discipline would be provided to the DHQ Hospital, Khar, Bajuar agency. About road construction, he said, Rs700 million was being spent on the revamping of 30km road from Khar to Nawagai.

He also inaugurated an intermediate college at Nawagai which would be completed at the cost of Rs100 million.