PESHAWAR, Oct 20: The NWFP social welfare department has decided to accommodate 500 widows and orphans from the earthquake-hit areas in a new building adjacent to the Welfare Home in Hayatabad.

Up to 250 homeless people would be shifted to the PITE centre at Larama, NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq was informed during a visit to the building on Thursday. The senior minister was accompanied by provincial Zakat and Ushr Minister Hafiz Hashmat Khan, Social Welfare Secretary Sultan Mehmud Khattak and other officials.

The building had been evacuated on an emergency basis and arrangements for health, sanitation and other requirements of the affected people had been started, a handout said.

They were told that 200 women and children were being shifted to the rehabilitation centre in Hayatabad in the initial stage.

At the PITE centre, a room would be shared by two to six members of homeless families and initially 150 people would housed there, the ministers were told. The expenditure would be covered from the provincial relief fund.

The secretary said Social Welfare Director Dr Fakhrul Islam had been sent to Mansehra, Abbottabad, Shangla and Kohistan to establish rehabilitation centres there.

An information centre had been opened at Benevolent Fund Building in the provincial capital, which could be contacted on telephone No.9212737 till 10pm for obtaining information or guidance about victims, he said.

Mr Haq also visited the Paraplegic Centre at Hayatabad where victims with damaged spinal cords have been admitted.

On coming to know that a portion of the building had been rented by the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, he said all of it should be handed over to the centre’s administration to ensure better care of the patients.

The centre’s Medical Superintendent Dr Abdul Qayum Afridi and Administrative Officer Dr Syed Mohammad Ilyas said 30 victims of the earthquake had been admitted there.

They said the centre needed financial support of the federal government and philanthropists.

Mr Haq said the social welfare minister would take steps for treatment of poor patients through Zakat Fund.