Nangarhar protesters want infra projects soon

JALALABAD (PAN members in eastern Nangarhar province staged a massive protest on Tuesday, demanding the government to kick-start stalled mega infrastructure projects in the province.

The protesters threatened that if the government failed to take any concrete steps to start the Naghlo power station, second lane of the Kabul-Jalalabad highway and Behsud bridge projects, within three days, they would close all roads leading to central Kabul.

Noor Agha Zwak, head of Youth Affairs Department in the province, told Pajhwok Afghan News during the protest at Pukhtunistan Watt square in the provincial capital Jalalabad city, that the government is neglecting the province.

The government has transferred the province’s budget to northern provinces and therefore work on reconstruction projects has stopped during the current year, Zwak added.

He said the government had promised for the last six years that it would provide electricity from Naghlo dam to the city but that has not started yet.

The protesters were chanting slogans against Ismail Khan, the Minister of Power and Gen. Mohammad Qaseem Fahim.

Representing the civil society, Noor Shah Noorani, said they have conducted a peaceful protest this time and people of the city demanded their rights. “We shall not stop protesting till our demands are met,” Noorani commented.

Mohammad Hanif Gardiwal, the deputy governor who visited the square, said that in fact the government is not paying attention to the province.

The province has not received its developmental budget so far to start reconstruction projects, the deputy governor informed and added “we have no authority to promise the protestors within three days but we shall struggle together to complete all these three projects.”

mas/vp