PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur said on Tuesday that Rs7 billion had been allocated for strengthening the police force in the merged districts along with the provision of 122 new bulletproof vehicles. He said Rs1 billion had also been released for the provision of armoured personnel carrier vehicles to the police in the merged districts. He stated this while chairing an important meeting on law and order, which reviewed the current security situation of the province with special focus on the southern and merged districts, according to an official handout. Progress on provision of vehicles and other essential gadgets to strengthen the police in these areas, and other related matters were also reviewed threadbare. Chief minister’s adviser on information and public relations Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, adviser on finance Muzammil Aslam, chief secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan, additional chief secretary for home affairs Mohammad Abid Majeed, relevant divisional commissioners, regional police officers, deputy commissioners, and district police officers were in attendance. The meeting reviewed the implementation status of the decisions made during the tribal jirga chaired by the chief minister early last month. Mr Gandapur said that 1,300 new positions had been approved to enhance the capacity of the police in Dera, Tank, and Lakki Marwat districts, and directed the quarters concerned that local people be given first priority in recruitment against these posts. He said job quota for the children of martyred police personnel for the position of assistant sub-inspector had been increased by 100 per cent. He directed steps to create maximum employment opportunities in merged districts by implementing a new mining policy for the region. He said that the government was going to constitute a jirga for just distribution of oil and gas resources in North Waziristan. Mr Gandapur directed that special attention be given to providing healthcare and education facilities to people and sports and other healthy activities be organised for the youth at the local level to keep them away from negative activities. He emphasised that maintaining law and order was the biggest challenge, and to achieve this, everyone needed to work together. He said local jirgas should be regularly held to resolve law and order issues, involving local elders and other stakeholders. The chief minister regretted that in the past, not enough attention was given to strengthening the police, but the current provincial government was fully focusing on this to ensure better law and order at all costs as it was a top priority of the provincial government. He also directed the authorities concerned to complete a survey of damage in the merged districts, and compile accurate data for payment of compensation to the affected people.