TAXILA: The Attock police on Wednesday distributed a month’s worth of food items among161families in the district.

A ceremony was held to distributed the goods, which were worth Rs1.2 million in total from the Police Relief Fund for Coronavirus, while practicing social distancing.

District Police Officer Khalid Hamdani said that applications were received from people, particularly daily-wage workers, across the district who are affected by the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. He said 91 families were chosen from Attock city, 35 from Hassanabdal and 35 from Hazro.

Contributions in this regard were made by district police officials through the aforementioned coronavirus relief fund, he said. Officials from the force have donated money from their salaries to provide rations to people affected by the lockdown, he added.

He said that the police is working in quarantine centres, implementing the lockdown on roads, providing humanitarian assistance and conducting an awareness campaign to inform the public how to face the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic. Pickets have been set up at cities’ points of entry and exit and at main locations, he said, adding that every citizen needs to act responsibility to help mitigate the coronavirus.

In Taxila, the police also distributed food and other daily-use commodities among families.

Sub-Divisional Police Officer Tahir Kazmi said that the Taxila and Wah police coordinated with philanthropists to reach out to families and provide them with necessary items. He said the local police have devised a mechanism through which to distribute rations.

Mr Kazmi said each bag of rations contains enough flour, ghee, pulses, sugar and other kitchen items to last a family of five for 15 days. The distribution of rations will soon begin in accordance with methods devised with help from the district administration, he said.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2020