RECORDER REPORT

Abdul Akbar Chitrali, Convener Tanzeem Tahaffuz Haqooq Chitral, a rights organisation of Chitral, said the proportion of Rs 0.1 billion for mega lowari tunnel project of Chitral was insufficient and called for allocation of Rs 4.5 billion in upcoming fiscal budget 2011-12.
The federal government had reflected amount of Rs 0.1 billion for lowari tunnel scheme in next financial budget, which was not enough to complete the scheme in stipulated period, he said while addressing a press conference here on Monday at Peshawar Press Club. Flanked by Mualana Ghulam Mohammad, former MPA, Qari Ahmad Saeed, and Shamsher Khan, he said that the construction cost on the project had increased manifold due to non-disbursement of payment to Sambo, a Korean construction company in stipulated period.
He informed that the company had halt construction work on November 22, 2010 for non-payment of arrears to it. Former MPA said that the Korean company had claimed Rs 3.5 billion due to lapsing of project for the last several months.
Initially, he said the government had allocated Rs 0.8 billion for the scheme, which was gradually swelled at 160 to 230 billion owing to constant halt of construction of work on the project. Presently, he said the scheme would bear additional cost of Rs 300 billion if government failed to disburse money in proper time, whereas the federal government's Rs 0.1 billion allocation was totally insufficient for the project.
He added that the cost of labour and construction material had shot up with passage of time, because of which company has demanded additional funds. He accused that the federal government had diverted Rs 0.2 billion funds of Lowari tunnel scheme to Larkana and Multan. He alleged that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Minister for population Welfare, Saleem Khan, belonging to Chitral had pretended Chitrali people through passing contradictory and baseless statements. He said he is incompetent for slot of minister and called for immediate resign following the prevailing unrest among Chitrali people against him. He demanded of the federal government to allocate appropriate funds to complete the mega project in the district Chitral.