MANSEHRA: The Rabt Development Organisation, working for the uplift of marginalised segments of society, has supplied electricity to 140 mud houses in the remote Battakundai village of Kaghan valley.

The United States Agency for International Development has provided financial assistance for the purpose.

“We have lighted up 140 houses of this remote village by solar energy panels. Rest of the houses will soon be given these panels with the support of our donors ,” Rabt Development Organisation chief executive officer Raja Alamzeb told a ceremony held to formally light up Battakundai village on Friday.

Mr Alamzeb said Battakundai had been depraved of electricity since the country’s creation and therefore, his organisation with the financial assistance of US Small Grant and Ambassador Programme provided the local residents with solar energy panels with an aim to change their lives.

Local cleric Maulana Mohammad Musharraf appreciated the electrification project in the village and said it would help develop the local residents economically.

FUNDS RELEASED: The provincial government has released the first tranche of Rs15 million for the reconstruction of the Balakot Civil Hospital.

“After we took up the issue of the prolonged delay in the civil hospital’s reconstruction with him, health minister Shahram Khan Tarakai ordered the release of the first installment of funds i.e. Rs15 million for it,” PTI tehsil president Haider Ali told reporters in Balakot on Friday.

The PTI leader said the government would release the remaining amount soon. He said the works and communication department should begin the hospital’s reconstruction without delay to the benefit of the local residents.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2017