LAHORE, July 1: The work on 10 development schemes of the capital city district police under the Annual Development Programme has been pending for seven months to a year for shortage of funds, it is learnt.

Of the total 11 development schemes, three are not included in the new fiscal 2012-13, one is getting the remaining allocation while six others will be getting fewer allocations against total cost estimates, official record available with Dawn shows.

The PML-N-led Punjab government didn’t release a single penny in the fiscal year 2011-12.

The construction of Hunjarwal and Naseerabad police stations with total cost estimates of Rs21.607 million and Rs12.088 million, respectively, while the boundary wall and gate in front of the Capital City Police Office with a total cost estimates of Rs21.607 million will remain pending as the government haven’t included those in the fiscal year 2012-13. The work on the boundary wall has been stopped for one year.

It appears that the provincial government and the police bureaucracy are least interested in spending on welfare-oriented projects of lower cadre police officials as well as the construction of police stations with a view to boost police morale and efficiency.

While an under-construction police hospital, three police stations, residences for policemen (BS 1-10) and barracks for police personnel will again receive minor allocations in the new fiscal.

The fewer allocations mean that projects aimed at police welfare and improvement in the thana culture will still remain a distant dream.

The police hospital has been allocated Rs0.500 million out of total cost of Rs29.802 million. The expenditure of up to Rs20.219 million has been spent on the project till June 2012. The work on it had been stopped for nine months.

Police stations of Garhi Shahu (Rs21.739 million), Township (Rs21.897 million) and Garden Town (Rs47.039 million) have got only Rs5 million, Rs5.901 million and Rs20 million, respectively, in the current fiscal year.

The spending on these police stations till June 2012 remained Rs15.838 million, Rs7.469 million and Rs5.204 million, respectively.

An amount of Rs118.374 million has so far been spent on the construction of residences of the staff (BS-1-10) against a total cost of Rs163.129 million, while the government has allocated only Rs20.068 million in the fiscal year 2012-13. Similarly, an amount of Rs182.940 million was allocated for the construction of barracks for the police personnel, but the government made expenditures of up to Rs98.688 million till June this year and allocated Rs40 million in the current fiscal. The work has been stopped for one year.

Against a total cost of Rs184.624 million and spending of up to Rs68.343 million on the construction of married officer’s residences, the government has approved only Rs20 million in the new fiscal year.

Interestingly, the police bureaucracy got approved the remaining amount of Rs22.932 million against the construction of nine residences of officers with BS-18 and 19. An amount of Rs50.038 million was earlier spent on the project against a total cost of Rs72.970 million till June 2012.

The government resolve to improve the police image and working in the eyes of people can be well understood from the fact that at least two dozen police stations of Lahore are still working either in rented buildings or in buildings of other government departments.

A senior police officer says that the poor infrastructure and fewer facilities always  ruin any department and demoralize officials on the one hand and target audience suffers as a result on the other.

He said although the government this time issued allocations in eight schemes, a lot of projects and infrastructures needed money.