KOHAT: The executive engineer of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited for Kohat division has proposed laying a new pipeline to Hangu city in view of the gas theft from the main Lachi pipeline.

Talking to Dawn on Wednesday, XEN Nasir Bangash said Hangu deputy commissioner Fazal Akbar had complained that gas supply to the city was hampered due to theft in Chambai, Sarki Piyala areas in Hangu, and Sanday Fateh Khankhel and Lachi in Kohat, resulting in protests by the consumers.

He said hundreds of illegal connections had been taken from the main line, and it was not feasible to disconnect them because they were underground.

Mr Bangash said the Hangu administration had asked SNGPL to solve the problem on priority basis, suggesting gas supply to the city should be provided from Bagato area, where the gas plant was only at a distance of 14.5 kilometres from the city. He said the gas pipeline from the area to the city would cost around Rs300 million.

To a question he said regular gas loadshedding was carried out from 10pm to 6am on the orders of the federal government to divert gas to power plants. He said total consumption in Kohat was 30 million cubic feet per day and two million cubic feet daily in Hangu.

CASES TO BE CHALLENGED: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Kohat district president Ziaullah Bangash said on Wednesday that the Insaf Lawyers’ Forum would soon challenge the FIRs filed against its leaders in the Peshawar High Court.

In a statement issued here, he said that FIRs had been filed against former district president Aftab Alam, candidate for provincial assembly seat Daud Afridi, former district nazim Naseem Afridi and Gumbat tehsil chairman Sajid Iqbal.

He said the leaders were booked under 3MPO and 7ATA, and had been on bail since their release from Bannu and Kohat prisons.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2023