MANSEHRA: The Muttahida Kohistan Jirga, attended by members of the national and provincial assemblies, the commissioner of Hazara, and the project director of the Dasu Hydropower Project has remained inconclusive.
“The jirga remains firm in its stance that it will not allow the laying of electricity transmission lines from the Dasu Hydropower Project to the national grid station until WAPDA honours the agreement signed with it in 2022,” Bakht Buland Khan, a member of the jirga, told reporters.
He said the jirga had set modalities before initiating discussions with WAPDA, Hazara Commissioner Zaheerul Islam, and Director of Dasu Hydropower Project Amir Shafeequr Rehman.
“We have presented our charter of demands, already agreed upon by WAPDA’s chairman in 2022. The Hazara commissioner and the Director of Dasu Hydropower Project have sought time to discuss these demands with the WAPDA chairman in the presence of jirga’s 54 members, local MNA and MPAs,” Bakht Buland Khan said.
He said the next round of the jirga was scheduled for December 27, and the chairman of WAPDA was expected to attend that.“We will then decide whether the transmission lines from the Dasu Dam to the national grid station should be allowed,” he said.
The jirga member said under the agreement signed in 2013 when Kohistan was not yet divided into three districts, and later renewed in 2022, WAPDA was required to provide nine megawatts of electricity.
“Now that Kohistan has been divided, WAPDA is legally bound to supply three megawatts of electricity to each district in addition to fulfilling other conditions,” he said.He noted that the agreement included the provision of subsidized (low-cost) electricity to approximately 20,000 households or consumers.
Meanwhile, an official from the Dasu Hydropower Project said that WAPDA would ensure an early meeting between the jirga and the WAPDA chairman to resolve the outstanding issues.The jirga cleared the five-day-long blockade of the Karakoram Highway last week after the release of one of its leaders, Kareemdad, who was arrested under 3 MPO for creating hurdles to laying transmission lines.
