KHUZDAR: Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri on Friday inaugurated a grid station which will supply electricity to 24 villages, raising hopes for increased agricultural production in surrounding areas.

Addressing a public meeting on the occasion, he said that apart from the villages, nearby areas would also benefit from the grid station which was worth Rs250 million.

He hoped that the residents would pay their bills on time to avoid outages. “If you fail to pay the electricity bills in time, then you will face load-shedding,” Mr Zehri said.

The chief minister announced that Karkh was being given the status of a sub-division, adding that 50 water supply projects would also be built to improve irrigation.

Karkh and Khuzdar were on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor route and so were destined to develop and prosper in time, said Mr Zehri.

Referring to efforts made to develop Karkh, he said FA and FSc classes would start in the Karkh High School whereas the girls school would be upgraded to middle school level.

The Karkh municipal system would become the Karkh Municipal Committee and about 20,000 bulldozers would be provided to farmers to boost agricultural production, he said, adding that power supply would also be extended to Jhalawan.

Schemes worth over Rs400m were in the pipeline to steer the region towards progress, he added.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2017