LAKKI MARWAT - The inmates of the district jail have complained that they are provided with substandard food and they also lack proper health facilities in the prison.
They made complaints to this effect before the Deputy Commissioner Zafar Ali Shah during his visit on Thursday. The prisoners informed the deputy commissioner that poor hygienic condition and insufficient health facilities like lacking of doctor, medicine and equipment multiplied their miseries to a great extent.
They said that the jail barracks had no exhaust fans for ventilation purpose in them while malaria and other mosquito borne diseases could spread if fumigation was not carried out in the prison immediately.
Flanked by Assistant Commissioner Abdul Shakoor Dawar, Shah directed the management of government city hospital to depute a doctor along with medicines to the district jail on every weekend to examine and treat inmates. He also directed the chief municipal officer to make arrangement for conducting anti-malaria spray in the entire jail building.
He asked the jail authorities to improve the standard of food provided to the prisoners and ensure strict search of visitors. He also directed the jail administration to utilise available manpower for ensuring foolproof security of the jail.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Zafar Ali Shah has warned the traders to remove encroachments from roadsides at their own within a week otherwise the administration would remove illegal infrastructure and seize the material.
During a visit to Lakki city the deputy commissioner expressed his anger over the encroachments on both sides of Bannu-Mianwali Road and directed the officials of municipal committee and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway authority to launch anti-encroachment drive if shopkeepers did not remove encroachments with the given time.
He also visited the office of municipal committee and found several employees absent from duty. The deputy commissioner also directed the officials of Lakki and Naurang MCs, district council, excise and taxation, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway and national Highway to remove steel wire barriers from roads erected by contractors to collect taxes from vehicles.
In an official communiqué to the officials he said that such barriers caused loss of precious human lives in accidents on main Bannu-Mianwali road. The contractors also encroached upon government land and built rooms for accommodation of their munshis (private clerks) on roadsides", he maintained. He directed the concerned authorities to replace steel wire barriers with pipe barriers and ensure sticking of crystal tapes on them to avoid happening of any untoward incident on road.
He made it clear that local administration with the help of police and levy personnel would remove steel wire barriers and demolish illegally built rooms if quarters concerned failed to comply with the orders.