PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has sought Rs50bn from the federal government, making a case for extra financial help to meet its security cost and police department’s needs, according to officials.
A senior finance manager said that the centre had been informed that the province needed the money to buy modern gadgetry for its police force, improve surveillance and meet security cost in the wake of militancy. “The request for the extra financial support was made at the highest level,” he said.
The provincial government has moved the federal government after, according to sources, police department sought funds from it to materialise plans and procedures vis-à-vis modernisation of the force.
“The police higher-ups have got a long wish list of buying modern weapons for the force, installing closed-circuit television cameras at important public places, imparting training to the force and alike,” said another official, privy to the matter.
According to one official, the provincial finance department received a request some months ago for providing Rs25bn for the police establishment to materialise its plans. Since the province didn’t have an ample fiscal space to provide the funds, said the official, the matter was taken up with the federal government.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak made a formal request to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during a meeting between the two in the last week of January this year. “The demand for providing Rs50bn made part of a long list of issues that the provincial chief executive raised at the meeting with Sharif, underlining Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s growing needs to improve its security apparatus,” said the finance manager.
INTERNEWS
