MANSEHRA: Electric supply to Dasu, the district headquarters of Kohistan, have been suspended due to delay in the completion of work on Wapda’s main power transmission line from Puttan to Dasu.

The government had declared Kohistan a settled district four decades ago and Dasu its headquarters but the people of Dasu city have yet to be provided with electricity and municipal services.

Work on the Puttan-Dasu electricity transmission line began three years ago and was expected to be completed in March 2015.

However, it is still incomplete.

The relevant officials said the transmission line would take almost half a year more to be in place.

During the 4200MW Dasu dam groundbreaking ceremony in June last year, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had promised the completion of work on Puttan-Dasu transmission line on time and that the people would enjoy civic facilities available to other modern cities of the country.

Local resident Shamsur Rehman said Dasu hydro-power project would generate 4200MW electricity but there was no electric supply for local population.

He said the prime minister had inaugurated work on Dasu dam after the Executive Committee of National Economic Council approved Rs486 billion for the first phase of 4320MW project in March 2014.

Rehman said if Wapda didn’t complete work on the transmission line soon, the people would be left with no choice but to agitate.

He said local people got electricity in small quantity from turbines they’d installed on streams.

“No one is ready to do business in Dasu due to unavailability of electricity. Also, the people use outdated ways of farming in absence of electric supply,” he said.

He said the temperatures had risen so much that the people of Kohistan couldn’t stand them.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2015

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