KOHAT, April 28: The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited has again started laying PVC pipes for supplying gas to the KDA Township, located on the top of a mountain, despite clear instructions of the district council to use cast-iron for the purpose to avoid any mishap, Dawn has learnt.

Sometime back, the district Nazim after receiving complaints from the residents of the posh locality approached the authorities concerned and stopped the laying of PVC pipelines in the eleven sectors of the phase-1 of the town. The work remained suspended for one month but the SNGPL, by taking the plea that the PVC pipes were a success in various parts of the country, again started work.

A renowned geologist, Dr Waseem told Dawn that the whole ground structure of the township was rocky and a slight earthquake could cause damage to the delicate PVC pipes and result in a big mishap in the shape of an underground blast due to gas leakage.

It may be recalled that the provision of sui gas to the KDA township was delayed by two years because the SNGPL demanded lump sum payment of Rs20 million as cost of the project. The KDA authorities on the other hand expressed their readiness to pay half the amount and the remaining after collecting it from the residents. The KDA was unable to pay whole amount because at the time of the development of the township 15 years ago they had not collected gas charges from the allottees whereas now it required some time to get the payment from the residents.

The KDA residents society alleged that the SNGPL was laying PVC pipes to cut the cost of the project without caring for the safety of the residents who have already paid millions of rupees as development charges.

They demanded that the Wapda should start electricity supply to the phase-II of the township without further delay which was hindering the construction of houses there for the last ten years causing huge losses to the allottees.