KP CM Mahmood Khan asks Centre to include Chashma project in PSDP

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has termed the proposed Chashma Right Bank Lift Canal Project of vital importance for achieving self-sufficiency in agriculture produce and demanded the federal government to include it in the upcoming Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

He made this demand in a meeting of National Economic Council (NEC) chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday, as per an official handout. Besides the relevant federal ministers, the meeting was attended by the chief ministers of all the four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan and the prime minister of Azad Jammu Kashmir through video link.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shah Farman Governor attended the meeting through video link on special invitation.The chief minister said the Chashma project of equal importance for both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab which.

On completion, he explained, the project will irrigate millions of acres of barren land in both the provinces, thereby addressing the issue of wheat shortage on a permanent basis. Mahmood Khan said inclusion of the project in the federal PSDP was the dire need of the hour.

He raised the issue of funds for the accelerated development of the newly merged tribal districts at the forum and urged all the provinces to meet the commitments made by them for providing three percent of their shares in the National Finance Commission for the districts.