LAHORE: The Punjab government has allocated Rs198bn for the law & order and justice in the budget.

Special focus has been given to the much-hyped project Police Integrated Command, Control and Communication which has been launched under the scheme of the Safe City Authority. The government has allocated Rs45bn for the project. The scheme will be extended to six more major districts, namely Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Bahawalpur, Sargodha and Faisalabad. The scheme was started in the provincial capital only with Rs13.71bn funds allocated for it in the previous budget.

Out of the total Rs198bn, the Punjab government allocated Rs96.44bn for the police department with a meagre increase of about Rs5bn only as a sum of Rs91.1bn was allocated for the department last year.

The small increase in the police budget has raised eyebrows as a number of new schemes and units require massive expenses and the government had made tall claims of changing the `Thana culture`. These schemes include front desks at all 716 police stations of the province, Dolphin Force, Police Response Unit and Special Protection Unit. Out of total 711 police stations` buildings, 481 are either incomplete, set up on rented premises or in a `dilapidated and dangerous` condition.

Another major chunk of allocations Rs69.2bn goes to districts police. Similarly, an amount of Rs5.1bn has been allocated for the revamp of the Elite Force, Rs3.6bn Special Branch and Rs4.6bn for the Counter Terrorism Department.ASIF CHAUDHRY