Dasu power project: Talks between Wapda, victims yield no result

MANSEHRA: The third-round of talks held between the Wapda and Dasu Hydropower Project’s affectees in Upper Kohistan remained inconclusive on Thursday.

“This is the third day of our talks with officials of Wapda and district administration but there is no breakthrough as the former doesn’t accept most of our demands,” Bukht Buland Khan, one of members of affectees’ reservoir committee, told the sit-in being staged in Dasu, the district headquarters of Upper Kohistan, for the last couple of weeks. He said that they would continue the sit-in until their 12-point charter of demands was met by Wapda.

“We wouldn’t allow our MNA Malik Muhammad Idrees and MPA Fazlul Haq to leave Kohistan until the Wapda and district administration meet our demands,” Khan said.He added that the affectees have been staging the sit-in for the last 13 consecutive days, but neither Wapda nor the district administration accepted their demands.

Earlier in the day, the talks held between the Wapda and Dasu dam’s affectees committee led by local MNA and MPA in the deputy commissioner’s office failed to ensure the resumption of work on the dam’s supplementary projects.

The execution of works on community schools, roads and water supply schemes was suspended forcibly by affectees three weeks ago.The MNA Malik Mohammad Idrees and MPA Fazlul Haq told the meeting that the affectees demanded acceptance of demands.