LOWER DIR: The regional police officer, Sher Akbar Khan, has instructed his subordinates to improve security of Koto hydel power station.

He along with the district police officer, Salim Abbas Kulachi, visited the under-construction Koto hydel power station on Saturday and reviewed the overall security arrangements taken for Chinese engineers.

According to authorities, more than 95 per cent work on the Rs13,998.89 million project has been completed. The powerhouse will generate 40.8 megawatts of electricity that would be added to the national grid. Several dates for completion of the scheme were announced earlier but it was yet to be completed, mostly due to security threats to foreign engineers.

The RPO instructed the supervisory officials to further improve security of the project and ensure safety of sensitive places.

He ordered that the data of all the people living around the project site should be collected and registered with the relevant police station.

The security staff was directed to conduct a mock exercise to deal with any emergency situation.

The PRO said that search and strike operations against suspects living around the power station should be carried out to ensure security of foreign engineers.

He said the Koto hydropower project was an important national scheme and no compromise would be made on the security of sensitive places including it. He directed all the officials to discharge their responsibilities efficiently and give top priority to the security of the project.

Meanwhile, RPO Sher Akbar Khan awarded commendation certificates and cash prizes to four police officials of Lower Dir for arresting an armed killer on the spot at Munda bazaar here the other day.

The officials awarded with certificates include Islamud Din, Javed Khan, Badshah Zada and Sher Ahmad.

A man identified as Mujibur Rehman was escaping after killing his brother at Munda bazaar the other day, but police officials on duty chased and arrested him along with the arm used in the crime.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2024