PESHAWAR, Nov 30: The NWFP government has decided to divert unspent funds of the Tameer-i-Sarhad Programme for purchasing urgently required equipment for the police force in the violence-hit province.

The decision in this regard has been taken on the directives of Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti. The police department would get Rs52.912 million which were earlier allocated for various development schemes in social sector, said a handout.

NWFP Senior Minister Bashir Bilour, when approached, told Dawn that the provincial government had already demanded of the federal government to provide funds for strengthening the police and purchasing security equipments.

“Centre has yet to release required amount to the province,” he said, adding that the provincial government urgently needed equipments for the police force to counter insurgency.

He said that government had planned to recruit 10,000 policemen and equip them with sophisticated weapons and tools. However, Mr Bilour said that the decision would not affect the ongoing Tameer-i-Sarhad Programme. The funds had been transferred from other old scheme, he added.

The handout said that the decision had been taken to cap all not yet started schemes under the programme. It said that during a meeting, which was chaired by the chief minister, it was observed that certain schemes for the fiscal year 2007-08 and some previous years were not yet initiated.

In order to utilise the unspent amount on account of these schemes, there were different options before the government.

One option was either to allow all the not yet started schemes to be completed within two months or the amount should be re-allocated to the setting MPAs for utilisation on the already identified schemes or other suitable schemes in their respective constituencies.

Another option was withdrawal of the amount by the provincial government to reduce budgetary deficit of the province while last option was to spend the amount on purchase of essential security items for the police department.