Infrastructure development: Five Haripur union councils threaten sit-ins

Present 11-point charter of demands; warn of laying siege to homes of local parliamentarians

HARIPUR: Residents and some office- bearers of five union councils in Haripur on Tuesday formed a collective and put forward nearly a dozen demands for improving infrastructure in the area.

They warned that unless their demands were accepted and fulfilled, they would stage protests outside houses of local parliamentarians.

Local government representatives and leaders from different political parties from  five union councils in PK-52 Haripur met at the residence of Haripur Tehsil Council member Saleh Muhammad Tanoli on Tuesday.

Salim Khan Tanoli, a coordinator for the All-Pakistan Tanoli Ittehad (APTI), pointed out that the provincial and district governments get millions of rupees as royalty for the Tarbela dam but the money has failed to find its way to the district.

Qazi Nisar Tanoli, a spokesperson for APTI, presented the charter of demands which includes making the Gandaf Degree College for Boys functional, building a road from Halla Jadal to Badhora, building a bridge from Chikahi to Muradpur, constructing a road from Beer to Maran Gali, completing phase II of Chappar Road, upgrading the Bhadhora High School for Boys to a higher secondary school, building a new girls school in Badhora village, upgrading the Rural Health Centre Swabi Maira to a Type-C hospital with full staff and facilities, setting up a National Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA) kiosk for Gandaf, ensuring provision of potable water in all the five union councils, building roads from Mardan Gali to Lalo Gali and Kriplian to Kehniyan, and approving another power feeder for the area — Swabi Maira II.

They threatened to stage sit-ins outside the homes of parliamentarians from Haripur and the concerned departments unless their demands were met over the next couple of months.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2016.