KOHAT, Oct 17: Speakers at a seminar have asked a government-run oil and gas exploration company to consult local people before initiating any project in a particular area and said that knowledge about the problems and demands of the local people is vital to ensure sustainable development.

They were speaking at a seminar titled 'Public Hearing - Effects of Chanda Oil Fields on the Environment' organized by the Oil and Gas Development Corporation here the other day. Senior OGDC officials, provincial director of the Environmental Protection Agency, elected representatives of Shakardarra and a large number of people living in the vicinity of the Chanda oilfield.

Wajid Waheed told the audience on behalf of the OGDC that the corporation's job was to release funds to the departments concerned for solving the people's problems, adding that it was not its job to execute water supply schemes or build schools.

OGDC's general manager Zafar Chaudhry said that the company had released Rs5 million to the public health engineering for a water supply scheme in the Shakardarra area besides paying Rs3.7 million for acquiring 1,063 kanals of land, adding that it was also providing Rs2.88 million annually to a local hospital. The corporation was also providing stipends to local students amounting to Rs1.2 million. Nazim of Shakardarra Abdur Rasheed Khattak, president of young welfare society Baseer Khattak and Shahid Imtiaz Qureshi also spoke on the occasion.

OGDC's general manager assured the local elders that the department would consider their opinions at all stages of the project, adding that the local people would be preferred for appointments in the future. He said that presently, 113 local people had been employed, including six officers.

He said that the corporation would construct Karappa-Shakardarra road costing Rs4 million whereas the work on the Bori-Saghri road had been completed. Similarly, two 25-KV transformers had been provided for Shahida and Gurguri police check posts.

EPA's director Dr Bashir said that the department prepares reports about the local population, land price, plant life but it gives no consideration to the interests of the common man which later hinders development and causes misunderstandings.

He suggested that for the solution of local problems, a joint meeting of all departments concerned should be held to discuss causes of delays in the execution of schemes for which funds had already been released. The EPA director said that local elders and social work organisations should also be taken into confidence about the project's effects.