KARAK, Feb 7: The Karak Qaumi Tehrik has demanded of the oil and gas companies to supply natural gas to the ‘approved’ villages of the three tehsils of the district.

A meeting of the Tehrik, held here on Tuesday, criticised the government and the oil and gas exploring companies for not fulfilling their pledges made with the people of Karak.

Addressing the meeting, former MNA Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz said that Sui Northern Gas Pipelines did not complete the first phase of the work to supply gas to the villages.

He said that June 31, 2011 was fixed as last date for completion of work to supply gas to 38 villages of tehsil Banda Daud Shah and 19 villages each of tehsil Karak and Takht Nusrati. He urged people to unite for resolution of their problems.

Former provincial minister Fareed Tofan, on the occasion, criticised former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani for approving only five per cent royalty on oil and gas for the district.

He demanded 20 per cent royalty for the district. “Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has given complete royalty to the districts of Mardan and Charsadda on tobacco and sugarcane,” he added.

Mr Tofan alleged that the amount of Rs700 million in the head of royalty was divided by Provincial Minister Mian Nisar Gul to obliged his supporters. He demanded of the provincial government to take notice of the division of the royalty among the blue-eyed people of the minister.

The former minister said that he had constructed Zebi Dam from the funds of Afghan refugees. Despite availability of huge fund of royalty, the people of the adjacent villages were longing for a single drop of water, he added. Former district nazim Rehmat Salam Khattak said that Rs700 million of oil and gas royalty were being wasted on installation of hand pumps and pressure pumps just for point scoring. He said that a single mega project was not initiated in the district.