Former PoGB Chief Minister bashes local government for power crisis in region

Gilgit City [PoGB], August 29 : The locals in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan (PoGB) continue to grapple with severe power cuts and load shedding, which has left the people helpless.
Recently, the former chief minister of PoGB, Hafeezur Rehman, bashed the local government for boasting claims to supply uninterrupted power in the area for the coming winter while not having a competent infrastructure for the same, WTV a local news organization from PoGB reported.
Notably, locals from PoGB have repeatedly raised their complaints to the authorities regarding the matter, however, no substantial change has been witnessed on the ground. Rehman in his statement mentioned.
"I have personally visited every powerhouse in PoGB and I have taken briefings from the workforce involved in these institutions. And I don't think that the government can back their plans of uninterrupted power supply. The government is incompetent and they are unaware of the ground reality. If the authorities don't know what's going on, then they must visit these powerhouses themselves," he said.
He further said that despite the entire workforce being put to work, the PoGB administration is not able to solve the problem, adding that they had even witnessed electricity coming for only 3 hours.
Rehman mentioned "Even when your entire workforce works for 24 hours a day and you spend your entire budget, even then you cannot solve the problems of PoGB before October next year. I was a witness when we received electricity for only 3 hours a day during last year's winter. And I believe, this year we will not even receive one hour of electricity. And only the government will be responsible for such horrible conditions of the people. They are the ones, who have been looting our resources and have blatantly lied to our faces."
He also mentioned that the delay in the finishing process has been due to the government's delay in making crucial decisions for the construction of the 16 MW power plant, these decisions would have been beneficial for the people if they were taken on time, the WTV report claimed.
"They claim that they will start the 16 MW project by October this year, but the channel that is supposed to be 5 Kms long and then function. However, currently, not even 3 km has been built leaving aside the functioning of the project. I even had an interaction with the contractors and they also believe that they will not be able to finish the project by the end of the year. They have wasted 4 years starting from 2020 to 2024 as the local government had the project since 2016. The project was scheduled to finish in 2021 but it has not ended till now" Rehman added.