Welfare of personnel Police want to follow army’s footprints

PESHAWAR, April 25: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have asked government to let it turn its welfare trust into a commercial entity like Army Welfare Trust, which carries out business ventures to generate revenue for welfare of its personnel. "Provincial Police Officer (PPO) Fayyaz Khan Toru has recently sent a summary to Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, seeking his assent to allow Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Welfare Trust (KP-PWT) to initiate commercial projects on the state land that is lying unutilised," official source told Dawn. The proposal, which has evinced opposition from the line departments, envisages construction of shops, markets and plazas for commercial purposes on the land that is lying unutilised adjacent to different police lines and stations across the province at the moment. Justifying the proposal, Mr Toru had argued that police department didn't have a sustainable source to continue different welfare initiatives for the retired personnel or the families of those killed in the line of duty. "The police department has to demand and rely on the provincial government from time to time," sources said, quoting the police chief's summary. The summary said that police department had been allotted 300 kanals land in Regi Lalma Township to compensate the families of those policemen, who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. However, this quota has almost exhausted during the last few years, as the number of police personnel being killed in fighting militancy has grown significantly. The KP-PWT, established in 1998, had the mandate to carry out income generating activities to mobilise resources for the welfare of the police force, thus, it should be allowed to utilise unutilised land in different parts of the province so that it could generate money for the welfare of the department, the summary added. The Chief Minister's Secretariat had forwarded the proposal to the departments concerned for comments before taking any final decision, sources said. "Almost all the line departments have opposed the move for the reason that it will set a bad precedent in the officialdom," they added. The revenue and estate department, which is custodian of the state land, has said that under the law land allotted for a specific purpose cannot be used for any other purpose, so allowing KP-PWT to utilise the un-utilised land adjacent to police lines and stations cannot be legally correct. "Likewise, it has also argued that it will set a bad precedent and instead it has requested the chief minister to get the additional land, if there is any, from police department so that government can utilise it for other purposes," sources said. The finance and home and tribal affairs department too had endorsed the views of the revenue and estate department, sources said. The provincial government had already offered the biggest-ever welfare package to police personnel in recent years as acknowledgment of their service in the current war against militancy in the province, they added. "The government is already spending generously under 'Shuhada Package' for Police, announced by the incumbent coalition setup so the fresh proposal cannot be entertained," the department said. Apart from substantially increasing salaries and allowances of police force, the government had also enhanced the welfare initiatives under the 'Shuhada Package'. As per this package, family of the police personnel killed in the line of duty would get Rs500,000, which now had been raised to Rs3 million. Similarly, facilities of free education to children of killed policemen, residence and payment of salaries till retirement age were also offered under this package. Moreover, the government is also providing plot to heirs of killed policemen, while in case of unavailability of plot in concerned areas, the government is offering cash in return so that they can buy plot on their own.