KP to have five more Darul Amans, 8 Panahgahs

PESHAWAR: The KP government has decided to establish five more Darul Aman (women crisis centres) and eight Panahgahs (shelter homes) in the province.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan here on Tuesday, said an official handout.

Member Provincial Assembly Dr Sumaira Shams, Secretary, Social Welfare, Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Director Social Welfare, Habib Afridi and other relevant senior officials attended the meeting.

The participants of the meeting reviewed the progress on the implementation of the chief minister’s directives on the subject matter issued in the last meeting.

Women crisis centres would be set up in District Dera Ismail Khan, Buner, Nowshera and Swabi.

It was informed that the KP government had inked an agreement with Pakistan Baitul Mal for the establishment and operation of eight number of Panahgahs in the province.

Two such facilities will be set up in the provincial capital and one each at divisional headquarters.

It was informed that presently eight Darul-Amans were fully functional in various districts of the province, while work on the establishment of Darul-Aman at Lower Dir was in progress whereas Darul Aman at Kohat was being upgraded.

It was added that as per the directives of the chief minister, all the male staff in Darul Amans except for watchmen, had been replaced with females whereas 72 new vacancies were being created to overcome the deficiency of staff.

The advisory committee for all the Darul-Amans had been notified and uniform food manual for all the Darul-Amans had also been put in place, the meeting was informed.

The Darul Amans would be established in District Dera Ismail Khan, Buner, Nowshera and Swabi.

It was added that out four Panahgahs were already functional and about 97,000 people had availed facilities there as far.

The remaining four Panahgahs would be made functional by September this year and the hiring of the staff, purchase of vehicles and other necessary equipment for these panahgahs had been completed.

The meeting was informed that rules had been approved under the Panahgahs Act 2020, while work on the constitution of boards for them was underway.

The chief minister directed the officials to include philanthropists in the boards as members for ensuring a better administration.

The chief minister directed the officials to ensure implementation of a uniform food manual in Darul Aman and said that teams should visit Darul-Amans and submit reports in this regard.

He asked the officials to submit proposals for the establishment of training centers for the rehabilitation and skills development of drug addicts in order to make them useful citizens.