MANSEHRA: The federal government has approved Rs2 billion for Potha Interchange to connect the Hazara Motorway with the Mansehra-Muzaffarabad Motorway.

Former MNA retired Captain Mohammad Safdar told reporters here on Monday that the prime minister had sanctioned Rs2 billion for the construction of the Potha Interchange meant for the Mansehra-Muzaffarabad Motorway project, which was already approved to link Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

He said the Badra Interchange connected the Hazara Motorway with the Karakoram Highway and Mansehra city but located away from the Mansehra-Muzaffarabad Motorway.

The former MNA said the residents of Mansehra city and its suburbs used the Qalandarabad Interchange through the KKH to reach the Hazara Motorway, so the construction of the Potha Interchange would reduce that travel time.

Ex-MNA says project to connect KP and AJK motorways

He said the Mansehra-Muzaffarabad Motorway, one of the mega development projects approved by the PML-N government, would shorten KP-AJK distance.

Mr Safdar said the Hazara Motorway would be linked with the Mansehra-Muzaffarabad Motorway via Barari and would pass through the Bakrial area.

He said the prime minister would visit the district soon to inaugurate those projects along with a grid station, the largest in Asia.

The former lawmaker said if the ruling PTI dissolved the provincial assembly, the PML-N would contest by-elections to form own government in the province.

He criticised the PTI government over ‘failure to come up to the people’s expectations about their development’.

Mr Safdar said all mainstream political parties were united under the banner of the Pakistan Democratic Movement and would thwart conspiracies being hatched by the PTI against the country.

DEMANDED: Traders on Monday demanded of authorities to protect the livelihood of handcart owners by allotting them a piece of land for business.

“The tehsil municipal administration launched a crackdown on handcart owners and thus, depriving them of livelihood,” president of the main traders association Sheikh Kamran told reporters here.

Accompanied by other leaders of the body, Mr Kamran said handcart owners mostly selling fruits and vegetables were worst hit by the TMA’s crackdown on encroachments, so they should be provided with appropriate opportunities to earn their livelihood decently.

On the occasion, general secretary of the traders association Mohammad Hanif Awan said the government should allot a piece of land to handcart vendors for doing business on payment.

He demanded of the tehsil municipal administration to return handcarts seized during the crackdown.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2022