MANSEHRA: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has approved Rs5 billion for the development of scenic Bartoni area of Torghar district as a tourism zone.
“The amount will help boost tourism sector in the district, which has been ignored by the successive governments in the past,” chairman district development advisory committee Laiq Mohammad Khan said while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of Mansari-Mundari Road held in Judbah area on Sunday.
Mr Khan, who is the younger brother of PTI Senator Azam Khan Swati, said he would meet Chief Minister Mahmood Khan next week and invite him to inaugurate the tourism project.
“Rest houses, roads and other infrastructure would be built under the project,” he added.
Rest houses, roads and other infrastructure will be built under the project
The MPA said funds were also approved for construction of schools and health facilities in the far-off localities of the district.
“It is first time since the erstwhile tribal area was given the status of a settled district in 2011 that any government has earmarked funds for construction of schools, roads and health facilities in Torghar,” he said.
Mr Khan said the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government had suspended work on the Rs220 million electricity supply schemes, but he added he had moved the Abbottabad Circuit Bench of Peshawar High Court to order release of the funds to complete the schemes.
SECURITY FOR ASHURA: Over 4,000 personnel will be deployed in the three sensitive districts of the division, including Mansehra, Abbottabad and Haripur, to provide foolproof security to the mourners on Ashura.
Speaking to police officers in a webinar on Sunday, DIG Mirwas Niaz said extra force would be called from other districts for the purpose.
Mr Niaz said Ashura processions in the three sensitive districts would be monitored through CCTV cameras and drones.
STAFF SHORTAGE: Torghar’s Kundar Hassanzai tehsil chairman Moman Gul Khan has demanded of the government to appoint doctors and other staff to the lone basic health unit in the area.
“Due to absence of doctors, patients are referred to hospitals in parts of Hazara and Malakand divisions,” he said while speaking to reporters on Sunday.
Mr Khan said he had visited the facility and found that there was shortage of doctors and paramedics.
He said no attention was paid to the maintenance of the health facility’s building, which was in bad shape.
The tehsil nazim demanded of the chief minister to hold an inquiry into ‘embezzlement’ of funds meant for purchasing medicines and upkeep of the building.
Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2022