MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Development Working Party (AJK DWP) on Thursday approved schemes worth more than Rs 1200 million for the constituencies of Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq and one of his cabinet members by bifurcating them to avoid a restriction on the limit of the forum.

Some other projects aimed at providing some “civic amenities” to the Pakistan-based Kashmiri refugees were also approved.

According to a shoddily drafted press release issued by the AJK press information department, the DWP meeting, the fourth in the current year, was presided over by additional chief secretary (development) Fayyaz Ali Abbasi.

The DWP can approve projects not exceeding Rs 400 million, and in order to evade this restriction, the meeting approved an allocation of Rs 700 million for the construction of 36.9 kilometres of long roads in LA-7, Bhimber-III, the constituency of Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, through two schemes.

Similarly, an allocation of Rs 500 million for the construction of 29.83 kilometres of long roads in LA-19, Poonch-II, the constituency of Sardar Amer Altaf, the minister for technical education and vocational training who belongs to PML-N, was also obtained through two schemes.

Other approvals included the revised cost of Rs 561.3 million for a project envisaging the construction of 20 kilometres of long link roads in [different parts of] district Muzaffarabad and a Rs 240 million scheme initiated by the AJK rehabilitation department “for the provision of civic amenities to the Kashmiri refugees living in Pakistan.”

There was, however, no elaboration of the places where this amount would be spent.

Another revised scheme worth Rs 137.8 million for the completion of the remaining work in 12 refugee colonies in Pakistan, including the construction of boundary walls around three of them located in colonies in Attock, Chakwal, and Wah Cantt, was also approved, the press release said.

It added that the DWP extended the deadline for the completion of 10 ongoing highway department projects—six in southern districts and four in northern districts of the state.

According to the press release, the DWP meeting also held deliberations on some other projects, but the outcome of the discussion was not shared.

These projects included extensions of the ongoing projects for farmers’ training under the sericulture department and survey and geotechnical research under the physical planning and housing department; a revised Rs 298.5 million project for the installation of transformers in the newly constructed block of Kashmir House Islamabad; and a revised Rs 273.8 million project for the uplift and promotion of tourist places managed by the AJK tourism department.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2024