PESHAWAR, June 30: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has said that gas discovered in the Karak district will be first supplied to local people.

The MMA government is committed to removing the sense of deprivation of those areas which had been kept backward on purpose by successive governments, he observed while talking to a delegation from Kohat here on Tuesday.

The chief minister said that the gas deposits discovered in Karak would not only benefit the province but also the country at large, and help boost its economy. Referring to the provincial rights, Mr Durrani said that the ratio of backwardness and poverty in the NWFP was alarmingly high than other parts of the country. Therefore, it deserved a bigger share in the divisible pool.

He made it clear that the MMA government would not compromise on the constitutional rights of the province. He said that according to the AGN Qazi formula, the share of the Frontier in hydel profit on power generation was Rs18 billion annually. He said that efforts were on to get this agreed share.

He said that it was a matter of concern that successive governments never demanded an increase in the share of the province. He said that the present government succeeded in uncapping the net hydel profit while the federal government will provide an additional Rs4 billion till the finalization of NFC Award.