PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has announced it will soon execute the plan to rehabilitate the children affected by disasters both manmade and natural in the province.

It will also do a situation analysis on street children in three districts, including Peshawar, Mardan and Abbottabad, and establish a ‘transit centre’ in Peshawar for the rehabilitation and psycho-social support of such minors.

The announcement was made by adviser to the chief minister on social welfare Dr Mehar Taj Roghani during the ‘guest hour programme’ of the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday.

Officials of the social welfare department and Peshawar Press Club president Syed Bukhar Shah Bacha also shared opinion on the matter.

The adviser to the chief minister said the government had approved a scheme ‘Zomong Kor’ (our home) for the current financial year 2015-16.

“A total of 200 flats at Nasapa area on Charsadda Road will be handed over to the social welfare department to accommodate 500 to 1,000 street children. The department will take all possible steps for the education and vocational training of street children,” she said.

Dr Mehar Taj said legislation was underway on the rights of women, children, acid throwing control, and women and girls’ trafficking.

CM adviser Dr Mehar says situation analysis on street children in three districts is also on the cards

She said very few people knew about the role of the social welfare department, which had to do a lot of work with the limited available resources.

“Being a doctor, my priority and focus of interest is special persons because disability in the province is 10-15 percent of the total population. Rough estimates put the number of the people with disabilities at 1.2 million,” she said.

The adviser to the chief minister said the social welfare department ran a total of 39 educational institutions in the province for special children and 3,700 such children were taught there, whereas a big number of special children was out of schools.

She said the demand for Braille printing press, books and other equipment for special people was under process and that the government had allocated Rs10 million for providing speaking laptops to children.

Dr Mehar Taj said most of the special persons were very poor, which could be judged from the fact that applications were invited for financial assistance of Rs5,000 and 25,000 people had applied, so the department had to have a computerised draw for the purpose.

She said work on a scheme ‘centre of excellence’ had begun wherein screening of special children would be done under one roof.

“Currently, the visually challenged, hearing-impaired, mentally retarded and physically handicapped persons had to go from door to door for their rehabilitation,” she said.

The adviser to the chief minister said the government would ensure special seats and other facilities for special persons in public transport vehicles, shopping malls, offices, public parks, educational institutions and press clubs, while all public and private places would have special toilets for them.

She said she had already directed the Peshawar Development Authority to implement the government’s decisions in that respect.

Dr Mehar Taj said 11 percent of the people in the province were drug addicts, including children aged 8-9 years.

She said only the social welfare department could not overcome the situation because it had only six drug rehabilitation centres, wherein and each hospital had 10 beds for detoxification.

The adviser to the chief minister said Rs150 million had been allocated for the rehabilitation of addicts and that the money would be spent through an NGO, Dost Welfare Foundation.

She said in light of the vulnerability of women, the government wanted to have a reconciliation committee to resolve petty issues in order to reduce load on Darul Aman.

Dr Mehar Taj said new Darul Amans were required in various districts.

She urged media to effectively play its role for public awareness of the rights of women and children against violence and for the women’s empowerment.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2015

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