SWABI: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qasiar on Saturday inaugurated work on construction of Swabi central jail in Shahmansoor Township here.

The project has been a longstanding demand of the people, and in fact it was planned about a decade ago, but the successive provincial governments failed to execute it.

The land for the project was acquired much earlier but due to lack of interest it had been delayed.

On the occasion, Mr Qaisar said the jail project would be completed within two years and the funds for its constriction would be provided by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and federal governments.

“The central jail is a huge project which will have all the facilities for the prisoners. It would cost Rs1.4 billion,” he said.

Talking to mediapersons after the inauguration ceremony, he said along with other facilities there would also be a modern hospital in the jail.

The Swabi judicial lockup was built in 1892 during the British rule and its capacity is only 84 prisoners, but over 400 prisoners have been confined there.

Answering a question about Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid’s remarks about him, Mr Qaisar said: “He (Sheikh Rashid) has his own party and could state whatever he wants.”

Criticising the speaker, Mr Rashid had stated that Pakistan Muslim League-N President Shahbaz Sharif could not hold chairmanship of Public Account Committee because a person having corruption cases against him should not hold such a position.

“I don’t know what is his (Sheikh Rashid’s) problem,” the speaker said.

“What I am doing is according to the rules,” he further said: “I will not take dictation from anyone and continue work according to rules and regulations.”

Answering another question, he said the government had completed construction of a sports complex in the district,

which has all the modern facilities for the players.

He said it had also been planned to construct a 200KV power station in the district to resolve low voltage problem.

About the non-functional oxygen and incinerator plants in the Bacha Khan Medical Complex, he said they would start work soon.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2019