MANSEHRA: Construction of the Balakot Judicial Complex will begin in the Bisian area soon, said district and sessions judge Sadia Arshad on Thursday.

“Our courts have been functioning in makeshift structures since a devastating earthquake ravaged the region in 2005, but in future, they will be housed by a modern judicial complex for which the government has approved funds,” Ms Arshad told lawyers in a meeting in Balakot.

The judge also visited the project site along with members of the tehsil bar association, led by president Adeel Hussain Shah.

She said the judicial complex would have courtrooms and lawyer offices as well as waiting areas for litigants and a basic health unit.

Ms Arshad said the Peshawar High Court had approved the complex’s design.

She said the relevant government departments were set to initiate the tendering process for the project.

On the occasion, bar association president Adeel Shah said the judges, lawyers, and litigants had been facing challenges since the court buildings were destroyed in the 2005 earthquake.

“The government has acquired 20 kanals of land along the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road for the complex,” he said.

Mr Shah said that the project would address more than 80 per cent of the problems facing lawyers, litigants and the judiciary.

He said extreme weather conditions had negatively impacted the working environment for lawyers.

DECISION ON HAZESCO: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Abdul Sattar Khan on Thursday welcomed the federal cabinet’s decision to include the Kohistan region in the domain of the Hazara Electric Supply Company (Hazesco).

“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is committed to alleviating poverty and unemployment in the underdeveloped regions of Upper and Lower Kohistan, and Kolai-Palas, so the federal cabinet recently approved the coverage of these districts by Hazesco,” Mr Khan told reporters here.

Accompanied by party office-bearers and workers, Mr Khan said the cabinet’s move came on the recommendation of the PML-N’s Kohistan chapter.

He said after Abbottabad and Mansehra, Kohistan would be the third division to be covered by Hazesco.

The PML-N leader said the new electric company would have 9,000 employees, including 3,000 linesmen, meter readers and others each.

He urged the prime minister to allocate 10 per cent of royalty from Dasu, Diamer-Bhasha and Suki Kinari hydropower projects for the development of Hazara residents.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2024