HARIPUR: The police have claimed that ‘foolproof’ security arrangements are being taken for the teams tasked with carrying out the Feb 17-21 anti-polio campaign in Haripur district.

District police officer Dr Zahidullah Jan told reporters here on Friday that the administration was taking extraordinary security measures for helping anti-polio teams achieve targets without hassle and fear in the wake of the recent deadly attack on polio workers in Swabi.

He said there would be at least two policemen for 696 polio teams each, while the number would be increased in over two dozen sensitive areas if the need arose.

The DPO said the entire Haripur district had been divided into City, Saddar, Ghazi and Khanpur sectors with the respective DSPs leading their police teams.

He said the whole strength of police including from elite force and policemen deployed in offices and other security duty would be on security duty with polio teams.

Dr Zahidullah said police of the neighbouring districts would join the Haripur police for the five days vaccination campaign and thus, increasing the strength to around 1,500.

He said though Haripur was comparatively a safe and peaceful district with no record of attacks on polio teams, the police would leave no space for laxity.

When contacted, district health officer Dr Saifullah Khalid confirmed that 696 teams of polio workers had been formed to vaccinate 181,000 children under the age of five years against polio.

He said the security plan would ensure that the anti-polio teams do duty fearlessly.

The DHO said the children to be vaccinated included 1,200, who weren’t covered by the last anti-polio campaign for one reason or the other.

ACCIDENT CLAIMS LIFE: A factory worker was run over and killed by a bus here.

The Hattar police said Kamran Khan, 21-year-old resident of Tarbela Colony Ahata, fell off the moving bus as he tried to disembark near his workplace in the Hattar Industrial Estate.

The worker with critical injuries was shifted to the Kotnajibullah rural health centre but breathed his last before being given the first aid.

The police registered a case against the bus driver and began investigation.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2020