KP police await funds to materialise provincial govt’s plans

PESHAWAR: With most of the police stations across the province operating in derelict buildings and prisons set up on rented lands, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police force has little proper space to work on reports and process crime evidence.

Although the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has claimed of improving policing in the province, the documents available with Geo News show altogether a different story.

According to the documents, there are over 140 police stations across KP that need a major overhaul, while 19 out of 279 prisons are operating in rented houses.

At least 30 of these police stations were built during the British era, decades from now and have not been renovated to date, the documents state. There are only a handful of police stations — 14 — where renovation work was under way.

Besides, the irony of it all is that the guardians of law themselves — the police — have 14 of their stations set up on illegal lands, as per the documents.

While talking to Geo News, a project coordination official in the police department said that approval has been given for model police stations, regional headquarters and telecommunication complex. “But not even 10% of the required amount has been dispatched for these projects that require billions of rupees.”

Even officials in the police department are said to be concerned over the dismal state of affairs, worrying how they will manage to complete the claimed plans with such a meagre amount.

As per the documents, the 50 to 60 model police stations that KP government has made plans for would be constructed at a high cost but only a few millions have been dispatched under the Annual Development Programme in the budget. For instance, the government has planned to build six regional headquarters for the counter terrorism department, telecommunication complex and sniffer dog centres in different districts of the province. The construction would cost around Rs600 million but only Rs40 million have been allocated.

Moreover, less than quarter the amount has been allocated for a mini police lines in Shangla.

It is difficult to even prepare the plan of such a project with the handful of amount that has been disbursed, officials said.

SSP Operations Sajjad Ali Khan told Geo News that construction and reconstruction of buildings for the use by KP police will not only facilitate the force but will also help the public.