MANSEHRA: The people of Battagram have formed a committee to take up the issue of unscheduled loadshedding in the district with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister and the federal minister for water and power.

The committee was constituted during a jirga here on Friday presided over by Battagram deputy commissioner Zarif Almani. Local elders, political activists and former and serving lawmakers attended the meeting.

Speaking on occasion, former MNA Mohammad Nawaz Khan said the duration of loadshedding had reached 18 hours a day, stressing people out. He said if the prolonged loadshedding didn’t end people would start agitating.

Nawaz Khan said the Battagram district was producing 500MW of electricity from its Allai Khawar hydropower project but the people were subjected to prolonged outages.

On the occasion, former minister Alamzeb Khan asked the federal government to give due share in hydel profit to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to help it overcome electricity loadshedding problem.

Zarif Almani told the jirga that a separate power supply line would soon be laid down to provide uninterrupted electricity supply to the district headquarters hospital. He said he would urge the provincial government to set up a small hydropower project in Battagram as the district had abundant water resources.

The deputy commissioner said he would also take up the issue of prolonged and unscheduled loadshedding with the authorities concerned.

LEOPARD KILLS CATTLE: A leopard has killed bulls and goats in Karori union council of Oghi. The killed cattle were owned by Mir Zaman and Shah Rehman in Sari Balwaina and Daga villages.

Talking to reporters in Oghi on Friday, former Karori union council nazim Mohammad Aslam said the wildlife department should take prompt action to capture the wildcat.

He said spotting of leopard caused fear among people who were reluctant to send their children along with cattle heads to grazing fields.

He said the wildcat came down to the populated areas from the nearby forests.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2015

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