May 18, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 5, 1423

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MUZAFFARABAD, May 17: People’s Party AJK Information Secretary Khwaja Farooq Ahmed on Thursday demanded constitution of a commission headed by a Supreme Court or High Court judge to probe into the developments during the approval and execution of the 30.4 megawatt Jagran hydel power project.

Speaking at a press conference, Farooq Ahmed, who held the portfolio of electricity in the previous PPAJK government, took strong exception to what he said were Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan’s “frequent negative remarks against the Jagran project out of his regional prejudices.”

The Jagran project, according to him, was approved by the Sardar Sikandar led previous Muslim Conference government which had set all conditions and entered into a contract with the Franco-Swedish consortium. “When the PP took over in 1996, around 40 per cent work had been completed, and we managed funds for the project in view of its importance for the cash starved exchequer,” he said.

Of late, the PM has frequently alleged that corruption was committed in Jagran project, built in public sector at a cost of Rs4,401.5 million. The PM says he will not allow execution of another “Jagran” in Azad Kashmir.

The PPAJK leader said the commission should determine among other things if the project was a white elephant as alleged by the PM or an asset.

“Let’s suppose the PM is right. Then he is to be penalized for giving the initial approval,” Khwaja Ahmed said, informing newsmen that despite some technical faults, Jagran had so far contributed Rs590 million to AJK exchequer.

According to Mr Ahmed, the real cause of the prime minister’s criticism against Jagran project was his “regional prejudice” because the project was located in Muzaffarabad. In this regard, he claimed that the PM had disproved the construction of phase II of Jagran project despite its feasibility and low cost as compared to Gulpur project in his hometown Kotli.

The cost of Gulpur project was estimated at Rs7,000 million, but it would only generate 60MW for two months of a year and its production during the remaining 10 months would be as low as 10MW. On the other hand, the estimated production capacity of Jagran II was 47MW in two months and 30MW during the remaining period, he said.

Mr Ahmed alleged that the PM had also shelved small scale low cost hydel generation projects, such as Sharian, Batdarra, Saidpur Riyali, and Hotreri, only because they were located in Muzaffarabad district. He said he was not sure the premier would constitute the commission as demanded by him.

He said Rs12.9 million had been allocated from the PM’s Special Directive Programme for Kotli district while the Muzaffarabad got Rs880,000.

Accusing the government of corruption, he asked the military officials to resume monitoring the system to check the leakage and pilferage of taxpayers money.