Firdous visits Sialkot jail, listens to women prisoners problems

SIALKOT: Special Assistant to Chief Minister (SACM) Punjab for Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan paid a visit to District Jail Sialkot and listened to the problems of the women prisoners.

She said that the total number of prisoners in district jail Sialkot was 1,872 saying that two water filtration plants had been installed in the jail.

She said a school had been established for education of prisoners' children and TEVTA is also providing technical training to them.

Firdous said that a multi-storey barracks was being constructed with Rs 45 million to increase the capacity of the jail, besides a washroom with Rs 2 million, laundry block and a 20-bed hospital for drug addicts with Rs 20 million is also being built.

She said that prisoners of 24 jails across the province have been provided with the facility of Punjab Prison Foundation Funds PCOs.

She said that anti-corona counters have also been set up in all these jails. She said masks, soaps and gloves were being provided for prisoners, visitors and staff.

While the ongoing program with the help of Punjab Information Technology Board will improve the administrative matters of jail as well as immediate redress of prisoners' grievances.

Immediate redress of prisoners' grievances, provision of facilities to prisoners and video trials of the prisoners will be available soon, she added.

She said that prisoners or their relatives can lodge their complaints regarding misbehaviour in the jail saying that the IG Prisons and the Minister for Prisons have also formed two separate committees to address grievances.

Later, SACM Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan while briefing to media at DC office about the operation carried out by the local government body in Sialkot regarding illegal encroachments in Kent Housing Society said that the owners of Kent House Housing Society, Musarat Asif wife of Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Ex-Mayor PML-N Ch. Tauheed Akhtar, Zahid Maqbool, Shahid Maqbool, Naveed Akhtar and Saira Iqbal, daughter of Muhammad Iqbal, got approval for 137 kanals in 2017.

Under the Punjab Housing Scheme Rules 2010, the scheme owners after transferring the area of roads, parks and public buildings to the department, built an illegal commercial plaza on the park site near about 13 marlas, she added.

Several notices were issued by the department to the owners of this illegal constructed plaza to demolish the illegal building from the government land, but despite of notices, the owners of the society continued to use the illegally constructed plaza.

The illegal building was also sealed but the owners of the Kent Housing Society broke the seal and started illegal use of the building, she added,

She said that the illegal building in the Kent Housing Society, which was built on a public park, was demolished today as per the rules and regulations.