SWABI: An awareness campaign was launched here on Monday to educate the people about their rights and duties and to enable them to contribute to the economic progress and democratic values of the country.

People belonging to different walks of life participated at a function in this regard, putting forward their proposals on how they could work together to achieve desired objectives. Tehreek-i-Bedari Swabi (TBS) is organising the drive.

The participants said Swabi had been endowed with natural resources, and produced a variety of crops like fruits and vegetables to name a few. They said the mighty Indus River also flowed through the district, not only providing natural beauty to the region, but also enabling the government to build Tarbela and Ghazi Barotha dams on it, which fulfilled power requirements of the country. They, however, lamented that people had been suffering due to prolonged power outages.

They also deplored that the government banned cultivation of poppy but did not pay the growers any compensation in return. They said despite the district’s handsome contribution to national exchequer it had been ignored in development by the successive governments.

They said in Gadoon Amazai industrial estate most of jobs had been given to outsiders.

They pointed out that cash tobacco crop was at the mercy of the government and suffered from the fluctuation in prices as well as the changing weather conditions.

On the occasion, MPA Meraj Hamayun Khan, who is the TBS chairperson, explained that the purpose of the platform was to raise awareness among the people about their genuine rights.

She said the TBS wished to educate people so as to better utilise their potential and the resources of the district in the uplift of the region.

TEACHERS AWARDED: Eleven teachers of public sector educational institutions have received the best teacher award given by the local education department.

Speaking at the awarding giving ceremony, education officials said the initiative was aimed to encourage the teachers to work with determination. They said the teacher’s role in building a strong society was critical.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2017