October 25, 2008	Saturday	Shawwal 25, 1429

MANSEHRA, Oct 24: Work on the demolition and clearance of debris of the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital, which was badly damaged in the October 8 earthquake, started after the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (Erra) issued NoC for the hospital project, sources said.

On completion of the new building, the hospital’s capacity would be raised to 500 beds from its pre-earthquake capacity of 246 beds. According to the master plan of the project, the existing area of the hospital would be expanded and its adjacent Zafar Ground would be included in it.

The sources said that the Saudi government had approved Rs600 million for the reconstruction of the hospital building and Rs400 million for equipments and facilities.

It was learnt that the Saudi government had approved the project design and appointed consultants to complete the task.

Sources said that in this connection an important meeting was held in Islamabad last week, in which medical superintendent of the DHQ hospital, Dr Niaz, briefed the participants about the project.

After the issuance of the NoC, the contractor has started work on the demolition of the three main buildings and clearance of the debris. The site would be cleared for reconstruction of the new building in three months.

FC PLATOONS FOR KOHISTAN: Kohistan district, would get eight platoons of Frontier Constabulary (FC) as the provincial government wanted to secure its border with Shangla district, it was learnt.

Abdul Sattar Khan, MPA from Kohistan, at a press conference here on Friday, thanked the NWFP governor, chief minister, and FC commandant for the approval of eight platoons to the district as all the recruits would be inducted from the backward district. He went on to say that thousands of unemployed youth would get employment, which would ultimately bring prosperity to the district.

The MPA said that it was the demand of the people of Kohistan that FC platoons from the district should be inducted in the FC and because of his efforts the dream came true.

He said that he would fulfill all his election promises and bring the district at par with the developed areas of the province.

In response to a question, Mr Sattar said that though militancy had griped the neglected settled districts of the province he was pretty sure that people of the district were patriotic citizens, adding: “No one can lure them for their personal gain as people of the district had foiled such attempts.”

He said that the government also wanted to block the frequent and infrequent routes from the restive settled districts as; “the district has common boundaries with Shangla district.”

Mr Sattar said that he had been working with the provincial government to end the sense of deprivation among the masses, while launching mega projects and very soon such projects in different fields would be launched.