KHAR: Director Health Services Fata Dr Jawad Habib on Saturday directed the local health officials to ensure maximum coverage of children during the upcoming three-day anti-polio drive, starting in Bajaur Agency from Monday.

He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the campaign held at the agency headquarters hospital.

Mr Habib lamented that officials of local health department did not consult the elders and ulema on polio campaigns, saying close contact with such people was necessary to ensure success of the polio drives in the agency.

Mr Habib said though the number of polio cases had significantly dropped in the tribal areas during the recent past, poliovirus still existed in some regions which needed to be eradicated.

He also ordered the officials to keep close watch on polio teams to ensure 100 per cent coverage of targeted children.

Dr Habib said that stern action would be taken against the health workers who shirked their duty.

He was told that 226,951 children across the agency would be vaccinated dur-ing the drive, for which, 709 teams -650 mobile, 41 fixed and 18 transit -have been formed.

C H E Q U E S D I S T R I B U T E D : Compensation cheques were distributed among the heirs of terror victims here the other day.

Bajaur Agency Assistant Political Agent Anwarul Haq and MNA Haji Bismillah Khan gave away cheques worth Rs300,000 each to the family members of16 deceased people and Rs100,000 each to the nine wounded at a ceremony held at the Civil Colony here.

On the occasion, the APA said families of all the victims of terror incidents would be compensated.

Those received cheques thanked the federal government for compensating them.

They vowed to continue supporting the administration and security forces in maintaining peace in the region.

`We are not afraid of militants and would continue our efforts to rid the agency of outlaws,` Malik Sayd Agha Jan, who was injured in a roadside blast last year, said.

He said he was facing threats for cooperating with the security forces, but won`t budge from his stance.