Hundreds of Mian Muhammad Town residents blocked the highway passing through the town on Monday by staging a peaceful sit-in to press the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government to accept their demand for supply of natural gas to the city.
Led by local elders including AJKCUJ President Muhammad Ramzan Chughtai, former Kashmir Press Club President Arshad Mahmood Butt and Advocate Muhammad Yasin, a large number of inhabitants thronged Mian Muhammad Road, linking the city to the historic town of Khari Sharif and Chachian.
Furious protestors set ablaze tyres to block traffic, which was diverted by the administration to alternative link roads. The protesters later brought out a procession holding placards and banners bearing slogans demanding the supply of natural gas to Mian Muhammad town, from where the city’s main natural gas supply lines pass through.
Speakers pointed out that despite the passage of several weeks, the AJK government could not arrange the signing of a formal agreement between Mirpur Development Authority (MDA) and Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd (SNGPL).
Speakers called for immediate signing of the agreement between the two institutions to ensure early supply of natural gas to the town and other gas-neglected residential areas of the city.
The speakers said the city population were anxiously awaiting natural gas supply for the past nine years.
Gas was supplied to a tiny portion of the city on September 30, 2002, but since then, the population of the rest of the city has raised hue and cry for the early supply of natural gas, they added.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Muhammad Tayyeb and SSP Sardar Gulfraz Khan rushed to the scene to quell the situation. The DC informed the protesters of the impending signing of a formal agreement between the MDA and SNGPL in the next couple of days.
The DC told APP that the law ministry of the AJK government had made a draft of a Rs167 million agreement between the two institutions to supply Sui gas to Mirpur.
The agreement, he revealed, is likely to be signed at Kashmir House, Islamabad, between MDA and the SNGPL in the presence of AJK Prime Minister Attique Ahmed Khan and other concerned officials of the AJK government.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2011.
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