Police demand Rs27m for lunch, breakfast

PESHAWAR: The capital city police have demanded Rs27 million for the lunch and breakfast of the policemen deployed during the immunisation campaign that focuses on polio besides other diseases, The News has learnt.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has agreed to pay the amount for the lunch and breakfast of around 4,500 policemen for 12 days. The amount is to be given through the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

It was learnt that the capital city police authorities had demanded Rs27 million from the provincial government through a letter number 1308/PO on January 24. The force authorities had demanded Rs200 for breakfast and Rs300 for lunch of every policeman.

The amount included Rs900,000 per day for breakfast and Rs1350,000 for lunch for 4,500 security personnel. The total amount for the 12-day campaign comes out to be Rs27 million. The authorities were asked to transfer the amount to the account in the National Bank of Pakistan.

The WHO agreed to sponsor the food for the 4500 cops during the immunisation campaign.“The office of the WHO representative has agreed to support the government of Pakistan with the provision of feeding charges for security forces during the campaign for three months,” said a letter of the WHO sent to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary while responding to the demand.

The third phase of the immunisation campaign is to be launched on Sunday during which around 500,000 children are planned to be vaccinated against polio and other diseases. Up to 3,500 policemen along with other officials perform security duty during the campaign to thwart any attack on the vaccinators and those providing security to the teams.

Extraordinary security measures are normally taken all over the province, especially Peshawar, during the anti-polio campaign. The authorities have banned motorbike riding in Peshawar on Sundays for three months as long as the campaign continues.In Peshawar, the campaign has been made part of the immunisation drive against nine diseases. The campaign is aimed at eradicating polio from Peshawar within three months.