AJK: Allotment of land at cheap rates for power project criticised

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Sayed Abid Hussain
MIRPUR (AJK): The past prime minister of Azad Jammu Kashmir Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry on Wednesday criticised the coalition government of AJK for allotting valuable state land at Mangla in Mirpur district on very cheap rates to a private company for setting up a hydropower project.

Addressing a news conference at the PWD rest house in Mirpur Azad Kashmir Sultan expressed dismay over the incumbent premier Sardar Yaqoob led AJK government’s decision of ticking the aforesaid decision of the recently-removed Prime Minister Sardar Attique led government of allotting the state land on 99-year lease to Atique’s close associate from the local business community.

“I am unhappy of certain decisions taken by the coalition government of Prime Minister Sardar Yaqoob including the decision of keeping intact the previous AJK government’s decision of allotting the state land to Laraib Company,” Sultan said.

Barister Sultan’s Jammu Kashmir Peoples Muslim League is one of the important components of the sitting Muslim Conference Forward-bloc-led coalition government of AJK.

Responding to a question he said that although the collation government of AJK was smoothly running, “but I am annoyed of certain decisions, including the aforesaid decision of allotment of the state land to a favourite of former Prime Minister Sardar Attique, taken by the sitting rulers in Muzaffarabad.”

Sultan said that he had inked the aforesaid alleged bungling of allotment of highly valuable state land to a favourite on the part of the former Premier Attique in his ‘White Paper’ revealing the alleged corruption and malpractices of the previous Muslim Conference government.

Sultan said that he would soon take up the issue before the Prime Minister Sardar Yaqoob Khan with stress to withdraw the orders of allotment of the state-land to the aforesaid private concern in the name of hydropower generation.

Later addressing party workers at the lawn of PWD Rest House, Barrister Sultan declared that although he was the component of the incumbent coalition government of AJK but he could not endorse any misdeed of the regime.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=182372