RAWALPINDI, Nov 6: Justice Ali Baqir Najafi of Lahore High Court (LHC)’s Rawalpindi bench on Tuesday restrained the Punjab government from closing the Rs5 billion Murree water supply scheme launched by the previous government of the PML-Q.

The bench also sought comments from the chief secretary Punjab till December 2.

Sardar Saleem Khan, a former town nazim of Murree, had challenged the recommendations of a steering committee on Murree’s development to declare the project aimed to supply water from the Jhelum River to the resort town as non-feasible.

The committee was headed by MNA Shahid Khaqan while Raja Ashfaq Sarwar from Murree was also its member. The committee was of the view that the project was not feasible as the Azad Kashmir government could object to the construction of any dam on the river. The committee said the cost of the project would increase to Rs7 billion from the initial Rs2.5 billion.

Sardar Ashfaq Abbasi, the counsel for the petitioner, however, told the court that the secretary finance had already put a dissenting note on the recommendations.

He contended that the AJK government had given its undertaking to the project under which six million gallon of water would be supplied to Murree daily. No dam was being built and the water would be pumped to Murree from the bed of the river near Kotli Sattian, the counsel added.

He said almost 70 per cent work on the project, including laying of pipelines, building overhead water tanks and acquisition of land, had been completed.