Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President, Sardar Masood Khan has said that the government is committed to resolving public issues being faced by the people in Muzaffarabad and adjoining areas
MUZAFFARABAD: (Pakistan Point News - 16th Jan, 2019 ),Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President, Sardar Masood Khan has said that the government is committed to resolving public issues being faced by the people in Muzaffarabad and adjoining areas.
He was talking to a delegation led by Chairman Traders’ Joint Action Committee, Abdul Razzaq Khan, who called on him on Wednesday. The President vowed to find a solution of the ecological problems affecting residents of Muzaffarabad due to diversion of the water of river Neelum to fill the composite dam of Neelum-Jhelum Hydroelectric Project (NJHP). “Both NJHP and Kohala Power Generation project are important projects of national significance but reservations of the people being affected by the projects directly or indirectly can also not be overlooked”, he said. He said AJK government is persistently pursuing relevant authorities of federal government to fulfill their obligations by strengthening the sewerage system and treatment facilities in the city. He said government will also make sure that at least 20 percent water of the river should continue to flow in the river besides construction of small water bodies in its lower basin. AJK government is also contemplating to conduct a study for identification of environmental hazards for human, Aquarian and wildlife, the President said and added that drastic measures would be taken in light of the proposed study. Earlier the head of the delegation Abdul Razzaq Khan told the president that federal government should sign an agreement with AJK government before starting construction work on Kohala Project. People of Muzaffarabad also want that the project should be built on run of the river instead diverting the water through a tunnel that will cause multiple ecological problems in seventeen kilometer thickly populated area from Saran to Kohala. Earlier addressing officials and executives of State Bank of Pakistan AJK branch, President Sardar Masood Khan said that China Pakistan Economic Corridor Project (CPEC) has helped internationalize Kashmir dispute besides bringing huge economic benefits to the country. He said that India for the first time recognized Kashmir as disputed region by raising an objection on the road being built under CPEC that will run through Gilgit Baltistan (GB). The President said GB is historically part of Jammu and Kashmir State and should not turn the area into a province of Pakistan. He said that people of GB should be given their political, constitutional and economic rights without disturbing the disputed status of the region.
