by Zulfiqar Ali Khan

HUNZA, August 16: The Chief Secretary Northern Areas, Babar Yaqoob Fatah Muhammad held meetings with people belonging to different walks of life during his first visit to Hunza after resuming his office. In this regards delegations of all Hunza union councils, district councillors and notables from all over Hunza held separate sessions with the secretary and discussed the development issues and needs of Hunza valley. 

They demanded for an additional seat for Hunza in Northern Areas Legislative Assembly (NALA) before declaring Hunza-Nagar as new district, as the areas having similar demographic and geographic conditions are already having proper representations. 

The delegation informed the secretary about the violation of merit in recruitments in different Government departments due to high level favouritism and nepotism from organized pressures groups present in bureaucracy and political systems of Northern Areas. They therefore demanded for Tehsil and sub-division level quota in Government services. 

The delegation shown great concerns over the high level nepotism in recruitment of special police force, to be deployed mainly in Hunza and Nagar sub-divisions for the security of Chinese Engineers and workers. They said that during survey of KKH, it has been observed that the non-local police personnel deployed with Chinese have created unrest due to lack of sensitivity to the local social and religious norms. 

The delegates demanded to immediately construct hydro-power stations along the Hunza River to meet the acute shortage of electricity. They also stressed for proper solid waste management system for Aliabad and Sost town. 

The Chief Secretary assured the delegations to take notice of the concerns of the local community and include their demands in ADPS on priority basis.  

The Chief Secretary also visited different projects of Karakoram Area Development Organization. He assured KADO for support in implementation of different projects in Hunza valley and other parts of Northern Areas.