PESHAWAR: The social welfare department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has planned to impart different skills to under-treatment 1,235 drug addicts and provide loan for their startups under ‘drug-free Peshawar’ initiative.

So far police and district administration have picked up 1,235 drug addicts including 13 women from different parts of Peshawar and admitted them to eight rehabilitation centres.

The detoxification of most of drug addicts was completed and their rehabilitation was under way, the director of social welfare in Peshawar Noor Mohammad Mehsud told Dawn.

He said that drug-free Peshawar project would cost Rs326 million under which 2,000 drug addicts would be rehabilitated and trained in different skills.

“The rehabilitation of these drug addicts will take one and a half months. Once they are rehabilitated, imparting them trainings in different skills will start,” he said.

The official said that they would be imparted training in electrician, refrigeration and air-conditioning, auto mechanics, machinist, tailoring, carpenter, plumbing, mason, welding, basic computer operator and hairdresser.

In this connection, an agreement has been signed with Technical Education

and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said that Tevta would nominate its officers, who would assess the rehabilitated drug addicts and based on their credentials and background, candidates would be shortlisted as trainees in the respective fields.

The candidates will be trained and certificates will be issued to them.

Those, who are competent, will be placed within the industry for six months and will be paid Rs15,000 per month and those, who want to start new business, will be paid around Rs80,000 grant.

If they are interested in a new idea, the government will provide them with Rs100,000 to Rs500,000 interest-free loan.

Mr Mehsud said that the district and divisional administrations were co-partners in the drug-free Peshawar initiative. He said that so far social welfare department and its partners had picked up 1,235 drug addicts from roads and streets of provincial capital. He said that their search was under way for drug addicts present in the peripheries to achieve the target of rehabilitating 2,000 addicts. He said that the government would engage the rehabilitated drug addicts for 15 months.

According to official documents, 648 of the drug addicts belong to Peshawar, 105 to Charsadda, 58 to Mardan, 50 to Waziristan, 41 to Nowshera, 34 to Khyber, 28 to Kohat, 21 to Shangla, 19 to Swabi and 14 belong to Mansehra. Similarly, 28 drug addicts also belong to different parts of Punjab, who were picked from different areas of Peshawar.

Sources told Dawn that all sorts of drugs were easily available in the provincial capital that was why drug addicts from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab were residing permanently there.

Of the total under-treatment drug addicts, 1174 are illiterate, one is a bachelor degree holder, seven have passed intermediate examinations and 11 have done matriculation while 22 others have only qualified middle and 19 have availed primary education.

Official data reveals that 31 drug addicts are below 17 years of age, 231 are in 18 to 25 age group, 238 in 26 to 30 years, 192 in 31 to 35 years, 179 in 36 to 40 years, 109 in 41 to 45 years, 92 in 46 to 50 years and 123 drug addicts are above 50.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2024