BAJAUR: Provincial minister for social welfare Anwarzeb Khan here on Wednesday expressed his dismay over the slow pace of work on ongoing development projects and directed heads of the relevant departments to complete the schemes within the stipulated timeframe.

He was presiding over a meeting of the heads of line departments to review progress on the public welfare schemes in the district. Senior officials of the district administration were also present at the meeting who apprised the minister about the projects in the region funded both by the federal and provincial governments.

The minister was informed that work on scores of projects in sectors such as communications, irrigation, agriculture, forest, livestock, public health, education, water supply, sports and tourism were in progress in the district. It was stated that about 50 per cent work on several schemes had been completed while the remaining work was expected to be completed by end of June.

The meeting was told that the slow process of releasing funds by the finance department and ministry of the province and centre, respectively, could delay the projects.

Mr Anwarzeb, however, insisted that most of the funds had already been issued while the remaining amount of up to 25 per cent of the total would be released in next few weeks. He held the departments responsible for the slow work on the ongoing development schemes in the region.

The minister noted that funds lapsed as the relevant departments had failed to ensure their timely utilisation.

FIRE AT SPORTS COMPLEX: A room in the Bajaur Sports Complex was gutted after fire erupted there due to electric short-circuit on Wednesday.

Rescue 1122 officials said no loss of life was reported though some players, staff and a team of police personnel were present in the complex at the time of incident. The rescue team extinguished the fire in a 30 minutes effort.

An official said the affected room located near the entry gate was used as change room. He said some dresses of players and sports kits were also burnt in the incident.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2022