Govt asked to compensate Mohmand Dam victims

GHALLANAI: The residents of Pindiali, Ambar and Prang Ghar here on Monday asked the government to compensate the local people whose land was acquired for the Mohmand Dam Project.

In a statement, residents, including contractors Malik Anwar Khan and Yunus Khan, urged the provincial government, elected representatives, and district administration to complete the project at the earliest as the people were facing a shortage of water.

They maintained that the long-awaited water supply scheme for the affected areas of Pindiali, Ambar, and Prang Ghar remained unimplemented even though a survey was conducted in 2021.

The project, which was divided into three phases, had a budget of Rs9 billion. Of this, Rs2 billion was to be provided by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) through the federal budget, while the remaining Rs7 billion was to be arranged by the provincial government.

They said that though the Mohmand Dam was a mega project, the affected communities had yet to receive compensation for their land.They said that the promised Community-Based Mitigation fund of Rs4.5 billion, which was meant to improve infrastructure such as grid stations in Danishkol, hospitals in Pindiali, link roads, and educational institutions, had not been allocated to the affected areas.

In 2021, the Public Health Engineering Department conducted a survey for the water supply scheme, incurring a cost of Rs30 million. The plan included the installation of 84 tube wells and the transportation of water from a lower altitude, with Rs9 billion allocated for this purpose.