KOHAT: PTI MNA from Hangu Khyal Mohammad has expressed concern over delay in the laying of sub-distribution gas lines in the district from the four wells operating for the last four years.

Talking to Dawn, he said since the discovery and start of production from the new Chamba Gul well by Hungarian oil and gas exploration firm, MOL, the people had been facing low pressure even in the vicinity of the well, forcing them to block gas supply to the main pipeline.

He said under the law it was the right of the people living within five square kilometre area of the well to get the facility free and on priority basis.

But despite repeated appeals the SNGPL authorities didn’t bother to sort out the problem.

The PTI lawmaker said the chairman of the Senate committee on petroleum, during visits to Hangu, had ordered early supply of gas to the residents, but the issue was being deliberately lingered on, sometime on the pretext of budget allocations or law and order situation. He said the security situation in the region had improved in the past years.

PROTEST AGAINST FCR: Fata Students Organisation staged a protest the other day against delay in merger of the tribal region with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Holding placards and banners inscribed with slogans against FCR, the protesters marched from Kachehry Chowk up to the Kohat Press Club.

Addressing the rally, the protesters said they had also right to live like other people of the country and enjoy independence. They called FCR a black law under which the tribesmen were treated like herd of animals.

They were of the view that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and PKMAP head Mehmood Khan Achakzai were not sincere with the people of Fata and had their own vested agenda in this regard.

They warned that if the decision of the merger was not made at the earliest they would march on Islamabad and observe a sit-in outside the Parliament House.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2017