GILGIT: Gilgit-Baltistan chief secretary Sikandar Sultan Raja has said that most of the development projects launched by successive governments in the region remain incomplete due to alleged corruption of both the contractors and the government officials.

The GB top official was giving answers to the questions raised by members of the provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, Blochistan, and KP at a workshop organised by the National Defence University, Islamabad, in Gilgit here the other day.

Members of provincial assemblies belonging to PML-N, PPP, PTI, MQM, and senior civil and military officers from Islamabad attended the worl
Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah, Speaker GilgitBaltistan Legislative AssemblyWazirBaig,Deputy Speaker Jamil Ahmed, ministers and local officials were also in attendance.

The chief secretary admitted that projects` contractors and officials both from GB and outside were involved in corruption. He, however, promised to conduct fair investigation into the corruption.

Mr Raja said that letters had been sent to the ministry of Kashmir affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan and the prime minister house requesting action against those officials who had been involved corruption in GB.

He said that some of the corrupt officials had been transferred to other parts of the country.

The official warned that the region could not progress if corruption continued and said that there were no regional offices of independent investigation agencies lil(e NAB to pursue the corruption cases.

On the occasion, Chief Minister Mehdi Shah said that GB had been denied fundamental rights for the last 67 years, and demanded that GB should be given AJK like political setup.