Chitralis warn govt not to deprive them of Golen Gol electricity

CHITRAL, Sept 1: The Chitral town power committee held a protest rally and public meeting demanding the government should provide at least 30 megawatts of electricity from the under-construction 106 MW powerhouse at Golen Gol near Chitral. The rally started from Chew Bridge which was led by representatives of all political and religious parties. After passing through Shahi Bazaar the rally ended at polo ground where the participants held a gathering chaired by MNA Iftikharuddin. [caption id="attachment_12312" align="alignleft" width="300"] Syed Nazir Hussain[/caption] Speaking on the occasion, leaders of different political and religious parities said 75 per cent work on Golen Gol hydropower house had completed and the federal government wanted to hold an auction for laying of the transmission line from the site to Temargarah to put the electricity into the national grid completely ignoring Chitral. They said Chitrali nation will never allow the federal government to do such an injustice with them. They said a grid station should be set up in Chitral to give at least 30 megawatt electricity to Chitral on a subsidized rate. They said all resources for this powerhouse had been used locally and a large number of Chitralis were affected by the project. Now it will be a total injustice to deprive Chitral of the electricity when the area was facing an acute power crisis.

I have already taken up the case before the ministry of water and power with the request to provide 30 megawatt electricity from Golen Gol to Chitral and upgrade the local hydro powerhouse at Singor to four megawatt, MNA Iftikharuddin

Through a unanimous resolution, the public meeting demanded that the federal government should start work on the establishment of a grid station within two weeks and assure the power committee in writing that it would provide 30 megawattt power to Chitral. They also demanded improvement in the main transmission line from Dir because due to low voltage most of home appliances were damaged. [caption id="attachment_12310" align="alignright" width="221"] GH Farooqui[/caption] Those who spoke on the occasion were Abdul Akbar Chitrali of Jamaat-e-Islami, former MPA and JI leader Maulana Ghulam Mohammad, former chairman district council Chitral Alhaj Khurshed Ali Khan, former district nazim Haji Maghfirat Shah, Advocate Tanweer Ahmad Chughtai of the PML-N, Maulana Jamshid of JI, Syed Muzaffar Jan of ANP, retired Wing Commander Fardad Ali Shah of PTI, Maulana Abdul Shakoor of JUI-F,  Muhammad Hakeem Advocate of PPP, Abdul Wali Advocate of QWP, Haji Sultan of PTI, Haji Abdul Rehman of MQM, Qadir Aman of all-government employees coordination council, Muhayuddin, president of transport union, Haji Abdul Jalil of Trade Union Chitral and Khan Hayatullah Khan, president Chitral power committee. Meanwhile, the traders union in Chitral observed a complete shutterdown strike to register their protest against the decision of the federal government to take away all the 106 megawatt electricity from Golen Gol to down country.]]>