SHANGLA: The completion of 132KV grid station being constructed at Shang village for the Bisham and Chakesar tehsils has turned out to be the major challenge for PML-N provincial president Amir Muqam ahead of the upcoming general elections.

Political observers here said that the grid station had been the slogan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz since the 2013 general election campaign, but its leaders failed to complete it in the scheduled time. However, the party leaders claimed that it would be made operational before the coming general elections.

Irfan Jan from Bisham said that it seemed unlikely that the grid would be made operational before the coming general election. He said that the grid station issue was there since long and any further delay in its completion could dent chances of Mr Muqam in the elections.

Muqam says heavy transformers sent to grid station site

Haider Ali, a resident of Chakesar, said that it would be better if PML-N inaugurated the grid station before the election because it could be a game changer for its candidates in the area. He said that Pesco was observing over 20 hours loadshedding in the area.

PML-N district president Intikhab Alam told this scribe that the grid station would take a month to complete and after it was made operational the people of Bisham and Chakesar would no more face the issues of low voltage and power outages.

District nazim Niaz Ahmed Khan said that he had ordered the contractor to expedite the pace of work on the project. He said that the problems of low voltage and tripping would end with operation of the grid station.

When contacted, PML-N provincial president Amir Muqam said that the Shang grid station was essential for Bisham and Chakesar tehsils. He claimed the heavy transformers had been sent to the site while the authorities had been asked to complete the project as soon as possible.

Mr Muqam, however, said that they had set June 15 for its inauguration.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2018