PESHAWAR, June 19: Pakistan People’s Party, Chitral president MPA Saleem Khan has described the allocation of Rs1 billion in the federal budget for Lowari tunnel project as insufficient and demanded its increase to Rs5 billion.

Addressing a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday he said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had been raising the slogans of change, but the steps taken by them so far contradicted their stand.

“The credit goes to Pakistan People’s Party which initiated work on the project but other parties didn’t take interest when they came into power and thus, delaying the project unnecessarily,” he said.

Mr Saleem said Lowari tunnel remained the only land link between Chitral and other parts of the country during snowfall in winter for six months. “But even then the government seems least interested to complete the project as early as possible,” he said.

The PPP lawmaker said Rs1 billion was meager and that the firm working on the site would pack up for want of funds. “This is very important route as it will link Pakistan with Central Asian States, leading to improvement in their bilateral trade,” he said.

CHITRAL: Former MNA and JI local leader Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali led a protest procession on Wednesday demanding of the government to allocate Rs5 billion for the unfinished Lowari tunnel project.

The rally started from Chew bridge and ended at Polo ground gate, where Maulana Chitrali and other leaders criticized the federal government for allocating only Rs1 billion for the project in the PSDP for the coming financial year.