PESHAWAR, Nov 9: Children of the only orphanage in Peshawar run by the district social welfare department will be shifted from a rented building to permanent building soon after it is renovated, officials said.
Some 52 children residing in the Special Education Complex building located in the welfare home at the Hayatabad township were faced with uncertainty as it was a rented building. The building belonged to the federal government which wanted it back for one of its project and the children were living there under constant threat of closure of the orphanage.
The district government has provided an old building in Notia locality which was constructed in 1965 and used for some time as working women’s hostel. The building was lying unoccupied for five or six years and was in shambles, said one official.
The spacious building needs to be provided with electricity and clean water and furniture.
The place which was lying unused for a long time needed renovation.
A UK-based charity the Frontier Relief, which had been helping the children at the orphanage for some time, had agreed to coordinate with the district government to help fulfil some of the requirements of the Notia building.
“The charity would help to make the building functional and provide tube-lights, sanitary ware and minor repair of the electricity wiring and continue to help the orphanage in kind once the children are shifted here,” said Zaman Khan, running the Frontier Relief, after visiting the building.
The district officer would make a shopping list of the things needed for children and building and the district government would also coordinate and cooperate with those who wanted to help orphans, said Mr Jehanzeb Khan, the district coordination officer (DCO).
The main reason the children of the welfare home could not be shifted to the building in Notia was that funds were not allocated in the current financial year to renovate the building, said that DCO.
The orphanage was started in a rented building in Hayatabad some years ago. The building was owned by the federal government and for more than three years the tussle between the provincial and federal government to take over the building was on.
The orphanage also had a Board of Governors when it was set up some five years ago but due to their lack of interest, internal conspiracies and lack of trust children in the orphanage had to suffer.