GILGIT: Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani, chief secretary of Gilgit-Baltistan, has launched a host of initiatives across the fields of education, information technology, tourism and health to promote the structures in the picturesque but administratively impoverished region, his office said.
Since his appointment to the region in April, Wani, a career civil servant from the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) cadre, has begun meal improvement plans to counter stunting in children, held career counselling festivals, launched digital learning initiatives, set up healthcare facilities and hired highly-qualified academics on competitive remuneration packages.
Just last month, he opened a dedicated educational and vocational training centre for blind and differently-abled people of Gilgit-Baltistan in Skardu.
At the time, Wani, who has since his appointment strived to achieve his goal to rehabilitate the disabled into society, said his administration also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a non-government organisation (NGO) for running costs.
Seperately, his administration also established a record 144 computer labs and libraries all across the region which he said cost a meagre Rs50 million.
Wani also launched e-learning projects to promote education in remote and lagging districts. His office also facilitated the provision of the internet to “digitally unserved” schools.
In a revolutionary measure, he provided soft loans to students in high schools to help them start businesses, in a step aimed at “teaching our students how to conduct business from a young age”.
“We want to produce the future job providers […] God willing, this project will bring a revolution in years to come,” Wani hoped.
GB has also set up a so-called software park at Polytechnic Institute Chilmish Das to provide free-of-cost co-working spaces to IT companies. “The facility was made operational in a record time and an existing under-utilised building was renovated for the purpose,” he said.
The goal, Wani said, is to facilitate the growth of IT businesses to increase the employment rate and the nation’s exports. He also announced the establishment of seven more IT spaces across the region.
Meanwhile, to promote the culture of healthcare, the region has established medical camps under the supervision of respective assistance commissioners. Offered at these camps will be free examination, prescription and medicine to the patients.
In addition, special sessions to raise awareness of mental health are conducted, especially in the Ghizer district to curtail the alarming rise in suicide cases in the valley.
The chief secretary’s office has also issued a tender for the purchase of two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines at the cost of Rs740 million. Presently, there is only only one MRI facility available, in Gilgit city, for the entire region.
Meanwhile, the regional government has also launched what it touted as the country’s first Tourism application to boost tourism in the mountainous region — the purpose of which is tourist facilitation through the dissemination of information about local attractions, events, hotel facilities, routes and promotion of local businesses.
