QUETTA, Feb 2: The provincial government has decided to set up a new force, Balochistan Reserve Force, for maintenance of law and order in Balochistan.

It was decided at a cabinet meeting presided over by Governor Amirul Mulk Mengal here on Saturday.

An official announcement said the provincial government would be spending Rs247 million on the creation of this new force. The nature of job, its command and control, are yet to be specified.

The government has already at its command regular police, the Balochistan Reserve Police and Balochistan Levies for the maintenance of law and order.

The Home Department has been given instructions for the formation of the new force. Besides this, the cabinet also issued instructions to the department for improving the quality of service of Balochistan Levies, commonly known as rural police.

The Levies would be modernised and given better training according to the needs.

In order to improve the traffic on roads, the provincial government also decided, in principle, to enforce the ticketing system already introduced by the Punjab government.

A committee has been formed to report back to the government within two weeks on enforcing of the ticketing system for traffic violations.

At present, the old system of challan by the police and imposition of fine by the traffic or other magistrates for violation of traffic rules is in vogue.

The cabinet expressed its complete satisfaction over the wheat stock position in Balochistan for the foreseeable future and found it “satisfactory”.

It decided to dispose of the cold storage plant in Loralai by selling its machinery and using the premises for other purposes.

In regard to the local government system, the provincial government took an important decision concerning sharing of the resources between the district or city governments, the towns and union councils.

The district government will be having a share of 40 per cent, the tehsil council a share of 25 per cent and union council the remaining 35 per cent.

There had been a serious row between the district governments and the union councils, complaining that they had been denied development funds by the Nazims.

Hundreds of chosen representatives of union and tehsil councils flooded the provincial capital and virtually disrupted the normal working by agitating their point to have a separate share in the development funds for the tehsil and union councils in Balochistan.

The provincial cabinet conceded to their demand and granted them a greater share of 60 per cent for tehsil and union councils while the district government would be retaining 40 per cent development budget.

For mine owners, the cabinet decided to introduce the system of one-window operation, extending all the necessary facilities to owners and future investors in the mining sector.

The provincial cabinet also took stock of the situation in government hospitals across the province. The government allocated Rs80 million for improving the existing services and buying new equipment. The cabinet ordered release of the money immediately.

The cabinet was informed that the provincial government would be dispatching medicine worth Rs190 million to various hospitals over the next two weeks.

The newly-inducted ministers attended the first cabinet meeting on Saturday.