KARAK: The Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) has been urged to withdraw the decision of closing down its technical training centre in the district.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, district councillor and general secretary of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Rafiullah Khattak and students said the technical centre was established by OGDCL in 2006 for training of educated youths in the field of oil and gas.

They said this was the only training centre of OGDCL in the entire province, but its closure had not only rendered its employees jobless but also deprived the students of an opportunity to get technical education at their doorstep.

They said thousands of youths had so far completed their one-year diploma from the centre who were now employed with OGDCL. They demanded of the company to restore the centre and also upgrade it keeping in view the need for more trained manpower for oil and gas exploration activity in the district.

WATER SHORTAGE: The residents of Karak city have threatened protest against persistent water shortage in the urban locality.

Talking to Dawn on Monday, the locals, including social activists, said the city used to get water from the tube-wells of tehsil municipal administration and Zebi dam, but now three tube-wells of TMA had turned brackish. They added that Zebi dam project had also failed to fulfill the water demand of the Karak city.

They complained that they had to purchase water at high rates which they could not afford. They said selling of drinking water had become a profitable business in the city. They said with the increase in mercury demand for water had also gone up.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2017