MUZAFFARABAD: Federal minister for state for water and power, Abid Sher Ali has been told that around 65-70 per cent work on Neelum Jhelum Hydroelectric Project (NJHEP) had been completed and that the project would formally be commissioned in 2016.

“This project is our priority and the government has released required funds for it, financial constraints notwithstanding,” the minister said while visiting the project site on Wednesday.

He pointed out that Kashmir offered tremendous potential for cheap electricity generation, exploitation of which could not only help overcome energy crisis in the country but also achieve the goal of self-reliance.

The AJK people have more rights on the projects in their region, rather they should be given three times more than their normal share, an AJK information department handout quoted him saying on the occasion.

Later, talking to mediapersons he said that the sit-ins in the federal capital were reflection of “negative politics” by the forces inimical to the development of Pakistan.

“Pakistan cannot afford negative politics of sit-ins at the moment. Those who are doing so are enemies of the country,” he said.

The federal minister claimed that the speed with which developmental activities were being carried out in the country by the PML-N government had rendered the opposition restless and “dharna dramas” were being staged to impede the progress.

“They know that if the PML-N government is freely allowed to implement its manifesto, there will be no chance for them (to come to power) in future,” he said.

He invited the PTI and PAT chiefs to visit the NJHEP site along with their activists to see for themselves that how speedily the government was striving to address country’s energy problems. The minister said the PML-N government had laid greater emphasis on power generation from water and coal, “with a view to providing cheap electricity to the people and accelerating the wheels of country’s industrialisation.”

He alleged that the PTI had failed to spend even 60 per cent of the Khyber Pakhtunkwa’s public sector development programme or produce a single megawatt power even on the run of the river.

On the other hand, the PML-N government had committed itself to ridding the country of crises which the opposition was finding hard to digest, he added.

“Those who announce their resignations (from the Parliament) from the container amid tunes of music do not miss the meetings of standing committee(s) so that they continue to get travelling and daily allowances,” he said.

The federal minister maintained that whenever the PML-N government started to deliver, conspirators swung into action against it. However, he paid tributes to the armed forces and the judiciary for thwarting conspiracies against the government.

When asked about Syed Khursheed Shah’s reported statement on mid-term elections, he said the opposition leader was a credible and veteran politician and his statement had been distorted.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd , 2014