ISLAMABAD: Over 500 containers have been placed on a standby at 22 different spots of capital, including Margalla Hills to counter the PTI long march date of which is yet to be announced, sources told Dawn.

Officers of the capital police told Dawn that 1,100 containers had been arranged to seal the capital completely during the PTI’s long march and out of the total 525 containers have been placed at 22 different roadsides so far.

They further said that 140 containers have been placed at Convention Centre, followed by 95 at Faizabad, 40 at Srinagar Highway near Shakarparian, 39 at Srinagar Highway near metro station, 25 at IJP Road near I-8 turn, 22 at D Chowk, 20 each at Kak Bridge, Old Motorway Toll Plaza, 14 at Margalla Hills, 12 each at T-Cross Rawat, Sarena Chowk, Margalla Road, near Aga Khan Road, nine at Nadra Chowk, eight each at Express Chowk, Service Road near Nardra, near Rawal Lake, Satra Meel, six at 26 No Chongi, five at Khayaban Chowk, four each at Barri Imam, Zero Point, two at Banni Gala Road (Bara Kahu to Imran Khan residence).

Nadra Chowk have been sealed with containers, and three Quock Reponse Force (QRF) vehicles of Rangers are patrolling the area, they said, adding that D-Chowk has also been sealed with the containers and the razor wires.

A team of 20 police officials has been deployed at Express Chowk and it has also been sealed, another team of 16 personnel had been deployed at Marriot Check point, the officers said, adding that a team of a dozen officials, each has also been deployed at Sarean Chowk and Margalla Road.

The government has approved a grant of Rs410million for the police to make preparation, including bear the expenses of manpower and resources to counter the PIT’s long march. An amount of Rs259million was approved for hiring of vehicles and containers, Rs35million for feeding/diet/food charges, Rs31million for fuel charges, Rs15million for anti-riot gears, Rs2.5million for rent of buildings, Rs3million for others and Rs64.4million for hardware.

Meanwhile, the government has also increased the daily allowance of the capital police from the existing rate which has been in vogue since 2005 to current/revise rate introduced in 2017.

An office memorandum in this regard was issued by Finance Division Regulation Wing on Wednesday, the officers added.

The daily allowance of Grade 1 to 11 has been increased to Rs800 per day from Rs400 per day, Grade 12-16 to Rs1,440 from 600,  Grade 17-18 to Rs2,560 from Rs640, Grade 19-20 to Rs3,280 from 825 and Grade 21 to Rs4,000 from Rs1,000, the officers said, adding that apparently the daily allowance had been increased keeping in view of the possible long march of the PTI.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2022