PESHAWAR, July 13: City’s Women Police Station has been shifted to a guest house after demolition of a portion of the building for renovation, police officials told Dawn. A women police official, however, revealed that the portion was demolished to construct a double-storey building to be used as hostel mainly by male police officials. Sources said the women police staff will be given a few rooms while remaining parts of the new portion will accommodate male police officials.

The women PS in Peshawar is one of the two established in the NWFP by the Benazir Bhutto government in 1993. Another such PS was set up in Abbottabad. There are 100 women police personnel in the province.

The women PS of Peshawar is the only PS housed inside the police lines, quite far away for women to register their complaints. It has a lock up to keep female accused.

“It is not in the women police station only; renovation work is going on in every police station of the city these days”, SSP (operations) Saeed Wazir said. He said a few rooms were demolished as they were not in sequence. Now a new lock up, barracks and a room for the SHO would be constructed.

The space used for car parking will also be utilised to construct a hostel. The hostel for the male police officials will be segregated from the women PS and both would have a distance of six feet in between, MR Wazir added.

He said that the renovation and construction had been undertaken with the financial help of National Police Foundation.

Lady constables who do not have accommodation facility will also be provided such facility in the hostel to be completed in one month. The hostel will have kitchen, bathrooms and other facilities, he added.