RAWALPINDI: A total of 711 schemes worth over Rs297 billion have been approved for Rawalpindi Division under the Annual Development Programme.

The schemes included 105 new and 606 ongoing which consumed 37.5per cent of the released budget.

Rawalpindi Division is a division of four districts covering 22,991 square kilometers with a total population of 10.884 million.

Prominent schemes of the health department in Rawalpindi division include Rs5.32 billion for Mother and Child Care Hospital, Rs5.166 billion for Institute of Urology and Kidney Transplantation, 60-bed hospital on Chakri Road, 50-bed trauma centre in Jhelum district and Pind Dadan Khan tehsil.

Along with the health department, efforts are underway to provide better educational facilities by giving top priority to education. Among the prominent schemes of the education department are University of Chakwal, Educational Complex in District Attock and Rawalpindi and Centre of Excellence in Chakwal has been established.

Apart from this, divisional public schools have also been started in all the districts. The most prominent in the roads sector is the construction of 138-km tourism highway from Lower Topa Murree to Chowk Pindori for which Rs4,187 million has been allocated.

Apart from this, four bypasses are also being constructed to solve the traffic jam towards Murree and practical steps are being taken to establish parking plazas in Rawalpindi as well as in Murree.

This was stated by Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha during a meeting with officers of 33rd Senior Management Course Inland Study Tour. On this occasion, the officers who came on the study tour were given a detailed briefing on the profile of Rawalpindi Division.

Additional Commissioner Coordination Syed Nazarat Ali, Director Health Dr Anser Ishaq, Director Colleges Sher Ahmad Satti and other officials concerned attended the meeting.

While briefing the study tour officers on the characteristics of Rawalpindi Division, the commissioner further said that the divisional administration’s current focus is on urban flooding, action against hoarders, environmental issues, providing facilities to tourists in Murree and upcoming elections.

He told the officers that in the recent anti-polio campaign more than one million children in Rawalpindi Division were successfully vaccinated.

With the special effort, 57 small dams in Rawalpindi Division have been completed and made functional and a separate task force has been formed for each dam to make their dams functional and bring its benefits to all the farmers.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2023