Ishaq Dar wears innocent look after theft: Imran

CHITRAL: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PIT) chief Imran Khan said on Tuesday that Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar wears an innocent look after theft. 

“Did someone look at the face of Ishaq Dar yesterday? He wears an innocent look after committing theft. Big thieves are being investigated and held accountable for the first time in the history of the country," he told the participants of the inaugural ceremony of the Lawi hydel power project near Drosh in Chitral. 

The PTI General Secretary Jehangir Khan Tareen, provincial Minister for Irrigation Shah Farman, Minister for Energy and Education Muhammad Atif and Member Provincial Assembly Bibi Fauzia were present on the occasion. "Now Princess Maryam Nawaz would have to face tough questions as well. We want equal accountability system for all," he added.

Imran Khan said that drinking water and electricity were the two big problems faced by the people, adding that unfortunately Pakistan ranked high among the countries where children die due to contaminated water. He said that the port city of Karachi in Sindh was the largest city in the country but it was facing numerous problems just because the state was not able to perform its responsibilities.

The PTI chief said 57 percent of the Punjab budget was being spent on Lahore but still people there did not have access to clean drinking water. "All this is due to plundering of national wealth by the ruling elite in Punjab," he added.

Claiming credit for establishing 73 new power supply schemes in the remote mountainous district of Chitral, Imran said that successive governments could only construct 175 water supply schemes in Chitral after the independence of Pakistan. He said the successive governments did not concentrate on hydel power projects and instead turned to coal-powered power projects for their commission.

The PTI chief said that the country was bestowed with   natural resources which could be used for producing cheap hydel power and also has no negative impact on the environment. He said that China had shut down its 16 coal power plants due to its negative impact on the environment and its health hazards but unfortunately the federal government was constructing coal-powered plants in the country.

"The rulers are doing this for their commission," he went on to say. He said that like this the establishment of thermal power houses was another sheer example of the scale of corruption and incompetency of the present government. "A huge share of taxpayer money is being paid to lenders in payment of the instalments of the loans taken from them," he added.

He said that there was a vast potential for production of hydel power in Chitral and the 69MW Lawi hydel power project would help solve the energy crisis. He added that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had established 55 mini hydel power projects in Chitral to provide relief to the local people.

“The PTI-led provincial government had given a new direction to health, education and police,” he said, and appreciated the role of Minister for Intermediate and Secondary Education Muhammad Atif and Senior Minister for Health Shahram Tarakai. He said that the provincial government had taken the number of doctors at the public sector hospitals from 3,000 to 9,000.

Terming the Billion Tree Tsunami project a success, he said the scheme helped improve environment. He said that 800 million new saplings had been planted under the scheme in the province.  Earlier, Shah Farman said that the 69MW Lawi hydel power project would be completed in five years with an estimated cost of Rs20.8 billion.

He said that though the previous Awami National Party-led government in the province had inaugurated the project in 2012, it did not complete the required documentation for the execution of the project and not allocated any funds for the scheme. He said that claiming the project by the ANP was a bid to befool the masses. He said the incumbent PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had released funds and Chinese engineers have started construction work on the project.