MIANWALI, June 22: The allocation of Rs21 billion for reservoirs indicates that the government will start construction of Kalabagh Dam this year, hopes Tehrik-i-Istiqlal (TI) president Rehmat Khan Wardag.

Speaking at a seminar at the district press club here on Tuesday, Mr Wardag said that construction of Kalabagh Dam would not only bring about a green revolution but also boost industry, as industrial units would get an additional 3,600MW at a nominal rate of 70 paisa per unit.

He alleged that many politicians had shares in multinational companies that sold thermal power at exorbitant rates and they were opposing the Kalabagh Dam only to protect their personal interests.

He said that KBD would irrigate 20 million acres from Dera Ismail Khan to Karak and make the NWFP self-sufficient in agriculture products. Mr Wardag said that on the persistent demand of NWFP the level of KBD had been reduced from 925 to 915 feet above the sea level and it would not pose a threat to Nowshera or any other town of the NWFP.

He claimed that three former chairmen of WAPDA Abdur Razaq Khan, Shahnawaz Khan and Shamsul Malik, who belonged to the NWFP, would never have seconded this project had it threatened cultivatable land in Swabi, Mardan, Pubbi and Nowshera.

Rana Amjad Iqbal, chairman of the district press club, Haji Khurshid Anwar Khan, tehsil Nazim of Mianwali and Akhtar Hashmi, secretary-general of the TI, also spoke on the occasion.

INJURED: An elderly man was shot at and injured by four people over a vani case dispute at Musakhel police station precinct on Tuesday. According to reports, Shafaullah, Imtiazullah Khan, Muhammad Hayat and Samiullah entered the house of Yaqoob Khan (grandfather of two Vani victims - Rukhsana Bibi and Rehana Bibi - and opened fire at him, injuring him seriously.