By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: MPA from upper Chitral, Syed Sardar Hussain Shah has warned the provincial government of resorting to violent protest bring life to standstill in Mastuj tehsil if they were not provided electricity from the Golen Gol hydro power project which is being commissioned to work in the first week of next month.
Addressing a press conference in Booni here on Friday, he lamented that 21 thousand consumers of Reshun hydro power station run by Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO) were without electricity for the last three years when it was washed away by the flash floods while reconstruction and restoration work on it is yet to be started.
He said that it will take four to six years for the restoration of Reshun hydro power station and the consumers cannot wait for such long time while the PEDO was duty bound to provide electricity for which it has the option of purchasing electricity from Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) whose Golen Gol Hydro Power Project which is being commissioned to work in January next.
Criticizing the provincial government for its indifference to the plight of 21 thousand consumers of electricity in Mastuj, he said that it failed to initiate talks with PESCO and NEPRA for agreement to purchase the surplus electricity.
Mr. Shah said the provincial assembly had passed a resolution demanding the government of rushing for agreement with the relevant organizations and authorities to provide electricity to its consumers but it has been consigned to the cold storage.
He said that the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had approved 36 mega watt electricity from Golen project to Chitral district and more than half of it is in excess which can be used to energize the transmission lines in the PEDO-fed area of upper Chitral but the PTI government is not taking the matter earnestly.
He said that Prime Minister Khaqan Abbasi is likely to inaugurate the Golen Gol project in first week of January next and the situation in upper Chitral will change for the worst if its residents remained deprived of electricity after that which will go beyond the control of the government.
