MARDAN: The industrialists and investors have warned that if the Pakistan Stone Development Company doesn’t ensure the provision of facilities and other required needs in the Marble City, Risalpur, they will move the court for relief.

Accompanied by a group of industrialists and investors, chairman of the Action Committee for Marble City Risalpur Asghar Khan told Dawn on Friday that the Pasdec working under the federal ministry of industry and production had launched the Model Industrial Estate Development project for marble processing with the name of Marble City Risalpur in 2010.

He said the marble city spread over 185 acres of land was divided in 220 plots.

Mr Asghar claimed that the industrialists and investors had purchased plots in the marble city over the promised facilities but even after the passage of 10 years, the place didn’t have proper water, sanitation and sewerage systems and had dilapidated roads.

He also complained that the marble city didn’t have a grid station forcing some marble factories to get temporary power connections from the adjacent industrial estate, while the others didn’t have electric supply.

The committee chairman said Pakistanis living in the country and abroad had invested Rs4 billion in the project and Rs6 billion more investment was likely to be made but plot owners awaited facilities for the establishment of factories.

He demanded of the prime minister to step in for their relief and warned that if the facilities weren’t provided to plot owners, they would take the relevant authorities to the court.

ARRESTED: The police on Friday arrested a man over the killing of a mobile phone dealeron Feb 2.

Sohrab Gul is part of a gang of robbers wanted by the City and Sheikh Maltoon police stations in various robbery cases.

The police claimed that the arrested man had confessed to injuring mobile phone dealer Umair Sadiq by firing gunshots during an incident of robbery.

They said the dealer succumbed to injuries in the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar. The police said other members of the gang would be held soon.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2020