A generous Punjab assistance for people of Balochistan

By Siddiq Baluch

The Punjab Chief Minister, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, recently paid a one-day visit to Quetta and had a meeting with the Provincial Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani and his cabinet colleagues to discussed matters of mutual interest and cooperation between the two provincial governments in various field. In his presence, a memorandum of understanding had been signed for supplying coal to Punjab for generating electricity. It will be the first coal-based power house in nearby district of Dera Ghazi Khan during the prevailing power crisis in the country as a whole.

Balochistan has huge deposits of coal in Chamalang region bordering Dera Ghazi Khan and the government will provide the Chamalang coal for generating electricity. While addressing a news conference at the CM Secretariat, the Punjab Chief Minister said that the proposed power house in Dera Ghazi Khan would generate 150 megawatts electricity meeting the substantial needs of Dera Ghazi Khan or southern region of Punjab. It will help overcome the power shortage in parts of Punjab or Pakistan as a whole mitigating some of the sufferings of the people.

Ironically, the provincial governments of Punjab and Balochistan are taking up such vital projects to generate electricity meeting the basic needs of the national economy. It is the job of the federal government to establish dozens of such power houses meeting the future need of electricity in Pakistan. Now the Punjab government had taken up the initiative building a coal based power house in Dera Ghazi Khan, the Balochistan government should follow the footsteps of the Punjab government in establishing several power houses based on Balochistan coal or natural gas. In case of coal, power houses can be established in Central and Eastern parts of Balochistan where huge quantity of coal is available exporting electricity to Punjab and Sindh. It will increase the revenue of the Provincial Government by marketing electricity to other provinces as Balochistan produces enough electricity meeting its meagre demands in absence of massive industrialization or commercialization of its economy.

The Chief Minister also announced that the Punjab government would spend Rs two billion on building a Cardio Vascular Diseases Institute of world standard in Quetta. Foundation stone of the Cardio Vascular Diseases Institute had been laid and he hoped that the entire project would be complete in 18 months. He said he had ensured that it should be a quality institution better than the Aga Khan University Hospital or other hospitals functioning in Karachi or Lahore. He said it would be more modern and far better than those hospitals already established or functioning. He said that the Punjab Government would also make appropriate arrangements for training of doctors and other technical staff as the builders of the Hospital will operate it for several years so that the staff members, including doctors are properly trained. It is the most significant contribution of the Government of Punjab for the people of Balochistan by establishing a modern Cardio Vascular Diseases Hospital in Quetta. It is a generous assistance for the people of Balochistan from the Punjab Government, particularly from its Chief Minister, Mian Shahbaz Sharif.

The Punjab Chief Minister also announced that he had raised the number of scholarships for deserving students of Balochistan from 160 to 250. Mian Shahbaz Sharif said that the Punjab Government would accept any demand from the Balochistan Chief Minister or the provincial Government in the field of education or imparting technical training to the students. He assured full support to the Government of Balochistan in development of quality manpower by imparting technical training to the people.

One of the senior journalists praised the role played by Mian Shahbaz Sharif in Water Apportionment Accords among the four provinces of Pakistan in 1991 which is still holding. The people of Balochistan hoped that the Mian Shahbaz Sharif will play an important role in conceding the economic and financial rights of Balochistan in the next NFC Award.

(The writer is the editor-in-chief of Daily Balochistan Express, Quetta)