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MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 12: The army has taken strong exception to alleged attempts in the AJK capital of transferring halfway the feasibility study contract of a public sector power project to a third company in violation of rules.
Sources said that the contract for the feasibility of 60- megawatt Gulpur hydropower project was awarded after detailed scrutiny by the negotiation committee, headed by the additional chief secretary (development), to a consortium of consultants comprising NESPAK Ltd and ACE (Associate Consultant Engineers) against Rs49 million.
The project located at run of the Poonch river in Kotli district was approved by the cabinet development committee during the previous fiscal year.
The consortium — scheduled to submit the study within 15 months — was made the down payment of Rs6 million in February to begin work. As its work progressed, the government made it a running payment of Rs6.5 million and of late the consortium had submitted another invoice amounting Rs8 million, sources said.
However, sources added, in the meantime another company Mira Energy Ltd emerged on the scene through Private Power & Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and by involving its connections with the AJK chief secretary attempted to get the contract transferred halfway in its favour.
The chief secretary, claimed the sources, directed the concerned officials to prepare and submit a “strong case” for winding up the project in public sector and instead handing it over to Mira Energy Ltd, which had reportedly offered that it would carry out the feasibility study and later execute the project by itself.
Sources said the concerned officials were maintaining that if the transfer of project to private sector was indispensable then it should be done by inviting open bids through newspaper advertisements.
The officials, sources said, were also of the view that the award of contract on a single bid could cause disrepute to Gulpur project like that of 30.4-MW Jagran hydropower project which was also awarded on a single bid by then AJK chief secretary in connivance with some federal secretaries.
Sources further feared that the transfer of contract could also land the government into litigation at the hands of the consortium of consultants and thus cause inordinate delay to the vital project.
When contacted, a senior official confirmed to Dawn that the Murree-based military authorities had “strictly advised the AJK government to maintain transparency in the deal”. But, he said that before taking any decision the government would seek the advice of the law department to ascertain the viability of the transfer of the contract to Mira Energy Ltd.
After scrutiny and evaluation the competent authorities would be approached for necessary approvals to ensure transparency, said the official who declined to be named.
HIZB’S CLAIM: Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin has claimed that hundreds of Hindus are fighting Indian troops from the platform of his group to end New Delhi’s illegal rule in occupied Kashmir.
He was speaking at a special session of Hizbul Mujahideen command council on Monday in the wake of media reports that six Hindus had joined the largest group fighting for the independence of the Himalayan region.
“There are not only those six but hundreds of other Hindus have been fighting Indian troops from our platform for the past several years. However, we conceal their identity lest the occupation forces might not brutalize their families,” he said.
The Hizb chief pointed out that the massacres of non-Muslims in held Kashmir were carried out by Indian troops in their abortive attempts to defame the liberation movement and ignite communal violence and side by side punishing the minorities for their support to the liberation movement.
Hizb was truly a representative organization of freedom movement whose network existed in every nook and corner of Kashmir, he said.
Mr Salahuddin said he could rightly claim that the non-Muslim communities were extending full cooperation to Hizb in its struggle for the settlement of the longstanding dispute in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiris.
He also called upon the Kashmiri pundits, who had fled the held Valley in 1990 and taken refuge in New Delhi, to return to their homes and actively support and participate in the freedom struggle.
The pundits community, he recalled, was driven out of the held Valley and compelled to lead a miserable life in New Delhi under a conspiracy by the Jagmohan administration in 1990.
“I hope by now the pundits would have realized that successive Indian governments have been using them to prolong their illegal occupation of Kashmir. They should return to their homes and the Mujahideen would provide them all possible protection,” the Hizb leader said.
