MANSEHRA: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader retired Captain Mohammad Safdar on Tuesday said the federal government had approved Rs4.5 billion funds for supplying natural gas to several areas here.

“Our [PML-N] government aims to ensure natural gas’s supply to parts of Mansehra district that are still without it, so it has approved Rs4.5 billion for the purpose,” Mr Safdar told reporters in Oghi tehsil here.

Accompanied by the party’s local office-bearers, the PML-N leader said that a survey was under way for the proposed road to connect Oghi and Tanawal with the Hazara Expressway.

“The government has approved Rs50 million for the survey of this mega road project, which will significantly reduce the distance between Oghi and Mansehra as a tunnel in the Susal Gali area is also one of the main features of this project,” he said.

The PML-N leader said that the construction of Asia’s largest grid station in the Tanawal area was in progress at an estimated cost of Rs100 billion.

“Once this energy project is over, around 5,000 people will get jobs,” he said.

Mr Safdar said a healthcare facility would be constructed in Tanawal to cater to the residents with an allocation of Rs450 million.

“Our previous government had approved the construction of the Manchora Dam in Oghi to irrigate barren agricultural land and meet local electricity needs, but the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MPA from Torghar, Laiq Mohammad Khan, obtained a stay order from a local court against it, causing work to stall,” he said.

The PML-N leader said that his father-in-law and PML-N president Nawaz Sharif didn’t lose the Feb 8, 2024, general elections in Mansehra but was actually deprived of the NA-15 seat through a “conspiracy.”

“Those behind that intrigue deprived the entire Hazara division, especially Mansehra district, of prosperity and development,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2024