By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: The federal government has dropped more than a dozen development projects worth of Rs.49 billion from the annual development program (ADP) of the current fiscal year which had been approved by the PML-N government while allocation had been made for some of them.
The former MNA from Shahzada Iftikharuddin told Chitral Times that the all the projects had been incorporated in the ADP of last year by the PML-N government most of which belonged to sector of road communication apart from education and power transmission.
He said that the sectors of road, education and power transmission were bearing costs of Rs. 41 billion, Rs. 3 billion and Rs.5 billion respectively.
The former law maker, who had intimate relations with PML-N ministers, said that the dropping of the projects from the ADP has sent shock waves across the valley of Chitral while the government of Mian Nawaz Sharif had bestowed upon this marginalized district fervently and had already spent a large sum of money on the completion of Lowari tunnel and Golen Gol hydro power project.
He said that road sector needed a huge amount of funding for the district whose area was one-fifth of the total area of the province and its geographical position for being alternate route CPEC, the former government had initiated work on 212-km Shandur-Gilgit road but it was scraped now.
The other road project costing Rs.16 billion was Oveer to Shagrom Terich which was highly important for promoting mountain tourism as the proposed road was aligned to pass through the foothold of more than 100 peaks of Hindukush system of mountains including its highest peak of Terich Mir.
Shahzada Iftikhar said that power transmission was yet another sensitive issue for the people of Chitral which the former government had earnestly taken up and had made planning to provide three grid stations in the far-flung areas of Kagh Lusht, Garam Chashma and Gang Gahirait.
“Although a galore of electricity is available at Golen Gol power station to electrify 100 percent villages of Chitral but its transmission was a problem for which a comprehensive plan had been made in the project to lay high density transmission lines to all the villages and 600 numbers of transformers were to be provided in different villages under the project.
The shelving of the project meant that the additional amount of electricity will go waste at the Golen Gol power station where 36 MW electricity had been fixed for the district of Chitral”, he said.
He said that University of Chitral was equally an important project in the sector of education and dropping the project from the ADP is really a bolt from the blue from the people of Chitral while they will face for many more for this dream which they had cherished since long.
