‘Sherpao-led party to rejoin KP govt’

NOWSHERA: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has said that power-sharing formula with the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) has been agreed upon and the party would announce rejoining the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led coalition government in the coming days. Talking to reporters here Monday, he said that several comprehensive sessions of negotiations have been held with QWP chief Aftab Sherpao and provincial head of the party Sikandar Sherpao.
He said the PTI leadership had completed the process of consultation on the issue and the QWP would soon announce rejoining the provincial government.
Criticising the federal government for carrying out excessive blackouts in the province, Pervez Khattak said the PML-N-led central government had not honoured the pledges it had made with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.
“The federal government has neither given us our due share in the overall power generation nor paid us our share from the net hydel profit arrears,” he added.The chief minister said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was being provided 400-700 megawatts less electricity than its share. “This resulted in excessive power outages.
Wapda is a federal institution and is responsible for the loadshedding,” he stressed.The chief minister said the power distribution system was decades-old and could not bear the load. This is causing damage to transformers and the tripping of grid- stations, he added.
He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had assured full cooperation to the federal government in taking action against power thieves. “The federal government has failed to devise any strategy to tackle the issue,” he contended.
Pervez Khattak urged the federal government not to test the patience of the people in the sweltering heat and Ramazan and give the province its shares or else the provincial government would launch a protest campaign to seek its rights.