- Interior minister says water of Sindh River to be used to end scarcity in federal capital
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal Thursday carried out the groundbreaking of model jail here at H-16 and said that the model jail would act as a correction centre for the prisoners.
Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony, Ahsan Iqbal said that the start of work on the establishment of model correction centre in the federal capital was a welcoming sign, for which he as a minister had allocated a hefty amount to ensure early completion of the project.
The minister said that the correction sector would help character building of the criminals to ensure that after completing the jail terms, the prisoners do not indulge in criminal activities again. He added that this model jail should be named as correction centre as it would not only be a place to jail the criminals but would also be a centre for their character building.
The interior minister further said that keeping in view the grave issue of water scarcity in the federal capital, the Council of Common Interest (CCI) had accorded approval to use water of Sindh River for the federal capital. He added that soon, a project in this regard would be materialised and the government was also reviewing to include this project under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
He also stressed the need to make the people aware of the scarcity of water in the federal capital and measures to stop them from wasting the natural resource.
Ahsan also informed that the government was considering the Metro Bus project on Islamabad Expressway, and work on the project would be initiated by next year. He added the government will introduce mass transport system in the federal capital and in this regard, air-conditioned buses would be deployed in Islamabad.
He said that keeping in view the extra load on the existing hospitals in Islamabad, a project for construction of district hospital in the federal capital had been approved to provide quality health services to the masses. “Work on the project would be initiated soon,” he added.
Stressing the need to expedite work on development projects, the minister also stressed that stability of democratic system and continuity of government policies in the country was vital for continuity of development process in the country.
Earlier, briefing the minister, Islamabad chief commissioner said that the project of model jail would be completed in 2019 at a cost of Rs3.9 billion and for the current fiscal year, an amount of Rs8 million was allocated for the project.
He said initially, the model jail would have a capacity of 2,000 prisoners while the capacity would be enhanced afterwards. He added that more than 1,500 prisoners were brought to different courts in Islamabad, which was wastage of time and resources besides creating security risks.
“In the model jail, state of the art educational and health facilities would be provided to the prisoners,” he added.
