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Tuesday March 19, 2024

KP CM to stage dharna in capital if rights denied: Imran

Accuses federal government of stealing KP’s electricity;inaugurates hydropower station near Timergara

By our correspondents
July 05, 2015
TIMERGARA: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak will be asked to stage a dharna in Islamabad against the federal government if the province did not get its rights.
Emphasising the need for undertaking hydel power projects to overcome the prevailing energy crisis, Imran accused the federal government of stealing the electricity of KP.
He was addressing a public gathering after Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak inaugurated the construction of the 4.8 megawatt Koto Hydropower Station near Timergara. The project will be completed in four years at a cost of Rs12 billion.
Provincial Minister for Energy and Power Muhammad Atif Khan, Finance Minister Muzaffar Syed, District Development Advisory Committee Chairman Lower Dir Saeed Gul, who is also the local MPA, District Development Advisory Committee Chairman Upper Dir MPA Malik Behram Khan, MNA Tariqullah, MNA Sahibzada Yaqoob Khan, local elders and a large number of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and PTI workers were present on the occasion.
Imran Khan said that generating power through water was cheap as compared to other resources. He said the KP government had identified projects that could generate 4,000 megawatt electricity without the construction of a single dam.
However, he pointed out that the provincial government could not afford to undertake these projects. He blamed the federal government of not paying attention to the issues facing the province.
Referring to the Kalam micro hydropower station, he said it was providing electricity to the locals at Rs2 per unit. The PTI chairman said the people of Punjab had also been denied their basic needs of health, electricity and items of daily use at an affordable price. He said the rulers of Punjab were launching metro projects one after the other at the cost of billions of rupees without caring for the needs of poor people.
Imran claimed that the PTI-led provincial government had brought about real change by devolving its powers to the village level in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“The provincial government is now focusing on the Health Department. It will soon introduce a comprehensive system to ensure the attendance of staff at hospitals,” he added.
Asserting that nobody could blackmail the provincial government, he warned that the Health Department employees holding illegal protests would be kicked out. “The hospital staff is supposed to serve the patients instead of holding protests,” he maintained.
Speaking on the occasion, Pervaiz Khattak said the people of Dir would use the electricity day and night without any suspension after the completion of the Koto Hydropower Station. He said the electricity generated from the project would cost Rs4 per unit.
He added that soon work would resume on another two hydropower stations in Lower Dir that would generate 400 megawatts electricity and benefit the people of Dir and Swat districts.
The chief minister said work on 356 micro hydropower stations across KP would be completed by the end of this year. He said his government had brought real change by holding the local bodies elections. He said people of KP would now decide their fate as powers had been delegated to the villages.
He said the KP government had constituted an independent Ehtesab Commission that had the power to nab even the chief minister. He added the people had given a mandate to the PTI to eliminate corruption.
“We have ensured 100 percent attendance of teachers at schools and now a comprehensive system is being introduced at hospitals to ensure the attendance of hospital staff,” he added.
Later, the chief minister also inaugurated the Timergara Medical College at Rani village in Timergara.