CM wants Swat Motorway opened to traffic before Eidul Fitr

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Tuesday directed the authorities to finalise arrangements for opening the Swat Motorway to general traffic before Eidul Fitr.

The chief minister stated that he would inspect the Swat Motorway soon, adding that the construction of motorway for promotion of tourism was the first ever attempt made by any government.

“The Swat Motorway will go a long way towards the promotion of tourism in the province,” he said while chairing a review meeting on Swat Motorway Phase-III.

The chief minister was also briefed on the five interchanges to be completed in Phase 3 of the project which includes Malam Jabba Interchange, Mingora Kanju Interchange, Sher Palam Interchange, Matta Khwaza Khela Interchange and Bagh Dheri Interchange.

The meeting was informed that with the inauguration of Swat Motorway, the traffic load on the N-95 national highway would decrease considerably, thereby relieving traffic related issues.

The meeting was informed that in addition to generating jobs opportunities, villages adjacent to the entire swat motorway project would witness remarkable development in its business because of easy access to major market places.

Previously, these areas remained under-developed because these were cut off from major routes, making transportation and business extremely difficult.

Doctors flay move to set up health authorities The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Doctors’ Council (KPDC) on Tuesday criticised the government’s move to set up District Health Authority (DHA) and Regional Health Authority (RHA).

Speaking at a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club, Dr Rizwan Kundi and others said that they would boycott duties and not perform duties during the anti-polio drives.

He said that the government was using revengeful tactics by transferring them to far-flung areas instead of resolving their issues.

Dr Rizwan Kundi said that even after the agreements with health minister on key issues against the privatisation of government-run hospitals and introducing new health law, the government was now using delaying tactics.

The government had prepared health recommendations draft, he said, adding, “But for unknown reasons, they are not sharing the draft points with the media and doctor community which was beyond understandings.”

“After damaging other institutions in the country, the government is trying to deprive the poor masses of the basic health facilities,” he claimed.

They criticised the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for paving the way to privatise the government-run hospitals which, they said, would be against the interest of the poor people.

Police say 4 robbers arrested The local police on Tuesday arrested four alleged robbers and recovered 11 motorbikes from them. Superintendent of Police (SP) Cantonment Wasim Riaz told reporters that police arrested four members of a robbers gang involved in snatching motorbikes from different parts of the city.

They were identified as Sobat Khan of Ganj, Mohammad Ali of Jala Bela, Atif of Shaheen Muslim Town and Nawaz of Sheikh Muhammadi. Eight bikes were recovered by the East Cantonment police during an action by SHO Taimur Salim.

The official said 11 motorbikes, two pistols and one AK-47 were recovered from the custody. IGP honours PhD scholar constable Inspector General of Police Muhammad Naeem Khan has said that highly qualified and talented jawans in the police force would be encouraged to enable them to bring more laurels for the force and the country.

The IGP on Tuesday awarded Constable Muhammad Tahir, who is a PhD scholar and has completed his research from the Shanghai Zeioteng University in China in Bioinformatics.

Tahir has also written a book ‘Forensic Serology’ and drafted standing operating procedures in serology for Forensic Science Laboratory. He has also contributed different research papers and is conversant with modern forensic research.