Reconstruction of road in oil-rich Shakardarra urged

Source The Dawn

The elders and transporters of oil and gas-rich Shakardarra town here have demanded early reconstruction and widening of Karrappa road, which has been badly damaged by heavy oil-carrying vehicles.


Speaking at a protest meeting of transporters here on Thursday, a local leader of Jamaat-i-Islami, Asghar Khattak, said that the government was earning billions of rupees from the oil and gas resources of Shakardarra town, but it along with the Oil and Gas Development Company had been ignoring this area in development projects.

He regretted that even potable water was not available in Shakardarra. He demanded of the government to immediately start reconstruction of the Shakardarra-Karrappa road and give this inter-provincial road a status of national highway.

He claimed that the road was being ruined by heavy vehicles transporting 13,000 barrels of oil daily to Punjab since 2003-2004.

FUNDS FOR FR KOHAT: The government will allocate huge funds for Frontier Region of Kohat in the 2010-2011 budget for developing this neglected tribal area, said Kohat DCO Shahidullah Khan, who also holds the additional charge of political agent of this region.

Mr Khan was chairing a meeting here to finalise spots for various development schemes.

He said that the government wanted to bring the FR Kohat at par with other developed tribal areas. Representatives of line departments were also present at the meeting.

He directed the officials to start work on the development projects sanctioned in the communication, agriculture, health, literacy and irrigation sectors so that tribesmen could benefit from them.

LEAVES BANNED: The Kohat divisional administration has put a ban on leaves of staff of all government departments from 5th to 11th of Muharramul Harram.

According to a notification on Thursday, Commissioner Kohat Khalid Khan Umerzai also ordered for establishment of five control rooms in Kohat, Hangu, Orakzai Agency and Kurram Agency to monitor law and order situation during Muharram.