PESHAWAR, June 16: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has said that 7,500 policemen will be recruited this year to strengthen the government’s capability to maintain law and order in the province.

Talking to journalists on the premises of the NWFP assembly building after the presentation of budget for the financial year 2007-08 on Saturday, he said that only 17,000 policemen, out of a total of 36,000, were equipped with Kalashnikovs while the remain were without guns.

The federal government, he said, would provide 100 heavy guns and 600 bullet-proof jackets for the NWFP police during the next fiscal year. He said Islamabad had directed intelligence agencies to attend meetings on law and order in the province and share information with law-enforcement personnel.

Mr Durrani said that an effective coordination between the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies was essential to containing the rising lawlessness and violence in the province. He said that because of its geo-political location the NWFP was more prone to violence, adding that his government was focusing on the improvement of law and order in the province.

He said the budget deficit would be covered by the financial assistance promised to the province by the World Bank. “We are also exploring some new avenues to enhance the income of the province.”

The chief minister said the province had sought opinions from traders, farmers and journalists during the budget-making process. “We have abolished property tax and launched welfare schemes for the destitute and widows. We have provided Rs25,000 to each union council for the distribution of medicines to needy people free of cost,” he added.

He said that five per cent of the royalty received from oil and gas would be spent on the development of those districts where wells (oil and gas) were located.

“Our government will also pay water charges of residents of the Khalabat Township, who have to migrate to Haripur district after the construction of Tarbela dam,” Mr Durrani said, adding that the NWFP government had so far spent Rs6 billion on various development schemes in the district.

About the decision of the Arbitration Commission, he said Wapda had moved the court against it. He said Wapda had not been paying outstanding arrears to the province. “We have no other option but to take up the matter with an arbitrator. We have accepted the decision of the commission, but Wapda is not ready to accept it.”

The chief minister said his government would spend Rs2 billion in each district if Wapda paid arrears to the province.

He said his government had provided free books to students of up to matriculation, and from this year students of FA and FSc would also get books free of cost.