Crises center for Women in capital soon | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Crises center for Women in capital soon

ISLAMABAD – The Ministry of Women Development and Social Welfare, under its “Family Protection and Rehabilitation” programme, will set up a centre in the federal capital to cater to the needs of women in distress.

An amount of Rs6 million has been allocated for the centre, which will provide temporary boarding and rehabilitation services to such women, the ministry joint secretary, Shaukat Nawaz Tahir, told Dawn on July 9.

Funds for the establishment of family protection and rehabilitation centre will be released by July 15, and the ministry is proactively working out modalities to run the new centre, he said.

“We have created 22 new posts for this purposes, which will be duly advertised in the press for recruitment,” the joint secretary said while responding to a question.

Commenting on a news item appeared in Dawn, he clarified that earlier a similar Crisis Centre for Women (CCW) had been created under a development project in 1998.

The project duration of the CCW ended on June 30, 2004, while another development project for the establishment of a shelter home at H-8 sector also completed its duration. Now, these two project have been combined under the name of Family Protection and Rehabilitation programme, Mr Tahir said.

The ministry has built its own building for the establishment of the new crisis centre for women, so that in future, the facility will become a permanent feature in the capital.

The CCW was run under the Non Governmental Organization management committee, whereas the new project would be managed by the ministry, the joint secretary said. Answering a question, Mr Tahir said expressed hopes that will be ready to serve women in distress by next month”.

Responding to a question that the ministry should have started its new facility by the time CCW’s duration ended, he said: “We have to follow certain official rules, and the ministry has taken every possible measure to start the project at the earliest”.

Mr Tahir said under the Public Sector Development Programme 2004-05, allocation for the ministry stood at Rs1258.512 million, which was 87 per cent higher compared to the last year’s revised allocation.

An allocation of about Rs60 million has been made in the current financial year for various projects of women development, which includes an allocation of about Rs29.5 million for nine district crisis centres for women at district headquarters like Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Vehari, Sahiwal, Kohat, Quetta, Rawalpindi and Islamabad, he said.

Source: Dawn

Date:7/10/2004