SWABI: Leaders of Swabi Democratic Alliance, including seven political parties, have demanded of both the federal and provincial governments to give special status to the district and electricity royalty because the local people had given all-out support to the construction of Tarbela and Ghazi Barotha dams. They said that duration of the excessive loadshedding should also be reduced in the district.

They raised these demands during a meeting of the alliance at the residence of ANP district president Ameer Rehman here on Sunday.

Tarbela Dam produces 3,000 megawatts of electricity and Ghazi Barotha 1,450MW and the total power demand of the district is 200MW, they said. “It is the only such example in the country that those who gave their land and offered sacrifices in the construction of the two dams remain deprived of facilities,” they said.

“We knew that there are differences among our policies, but when the question of development of the district comes then we fight from one platform for its rights,” said Masood Jabar, Qaumi Watan Party district chairman.

Say people have given sacrifices for Tarbela and Ghazi Barotha projects

The power house and various colonies of the Tarbela Dam are located in Swabi and the local people had suffered in terms of new settlements in different parts of the district.

MPA Babar Khan said that no benefits were given in return for the people’s support for the dams. He said: “We still await action by the government to remove the sense of deprivation among the people,” he said.

Saeed Zada, Jamaat-i-Islami district chief, said that instead of giving some benefits to the district it had been pushed into darkness because of loadshedding.

Maulana Attaul Haq, JUI-F district chief, said that the people had been forced to stage protest demonstrations against excessive outages.

Javid Inqilabi, district president of PPP, said that the main demand of the people was meeting their electricity needs and end of power outages. They demanded smooth power supply for Gadoon Amazai Industrial Estate, end to low voltage problem and announcement of loadshedding schedule.

Answering a question, they said that if they failed to deliver the people would not support them in future elections. “We have learnt from our past mistakes,” said Ameer Rehman, ANP’s district president.

FACTORY SEALED: The district administration sealed an illegal gur (raw sugar) factory in Razaar tehsil and arrested its owner during a raid here on Sunday.

Deputy commissioner Matiullah Khan told Dawn that the factory was preparing gur and selling the same to people in the district. The raid was led by Mr Matiullah. The factory was located in Yar Hussain, a congested area of Razaar tehsil.

“We have confiscated 400 kilogrammes of spurious gur, 32kgs of glucose and 1,600kgs of sugar from the factory,” he said. The factory owner, Haider Ali, has also been arrested and an FIR registered against him. The raiding team also sealed a medical store and hotel, allegedly for selling unhygienic food to people.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2015

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