KOHAT: The Awami National Party has accused the elected representatives in Kohat of wasting huge funds of oil and gas royalty on petty works.

It held a protest rally here for creating awareness of the royalty fund and its use. ANP district president Javed Khattak led the rally, which ended outside Kohat Press Club.

The protesters were addressed by party’s provincial joint secretary Ms Musarat Shafi, district secretary general Gul Mohammad Khan, Abid Shafi and Zubair of youth wing.

Mr Khattak said that after a long struggle ANP had managed to get provincial autonomy, but the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government was wasting money on tours of Islamabad. He said that Rs90 billion of annual development programme had lapsed because of the government’s inefficiency.

ANP says funds should be spent on mega projects

He alleged that PTI MPAs and MNAs did not undertake mega projects in the community sector which had no commission, and they had been spending money on construction of small bridges, streets, etc. He said that the PTI-led government, which championed the cause of promoting education, had not fulfilled its promise of construction of modern colleges and schools in the far-flung areas.

Other speakers said that Kohat district had been receiving Rs600 royalty funds every year, but the public representatives failed to spend them on big projects such as reconstruction of Liaquat Memorial Hospital to provide better health facilities to people. Similarly, the funds could be spent on provision of CT scan and MRI facilities for which people had to go to Peshawar and Rawalpindi.

Also, a project of electricity generation from water in Kachai was not being started to get rid of the hefty bills and produce cheap power of five mega watts. They said that the government had started a solar energy pilot project in a small village, which was not working.

They claimed that the Rs120 million of social welfare and production bonus had also been wasted.

TRAINING SCHOOLS: The district administration is establishing five schools for training police officers for conducting investigations on modern lines.

Additional superintendent of police Mansoor Aman told a press conference here on Friday that initially SHOs and DSPs would be trained at these schools to effectively curb terrorism incidents.

He said that the police had busted a gang of alleged thieves. He said that those arrested included Syed Mujahid Hussain, Said Anwar, Safar Ali and Luqman, all residents of Kurram Agency. The police also recovered stolen jewellery, 16 mobile phones and one Kalashnikov from their possession.

Meanwhile, the district administration has tightened security ahead of Eidul Azha. In this regard, the police have arrested 18 suspects and put them behind bars. The police also seized 20 bottles of liquor, one Kalashnikov, one rifle and one shotgun from their possession. The Riaz Khan police station has registered cases against the accused.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2014