Persons affected by CPEC protest non-payment of compensation

BATTAGRAM: The affected persons of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on Thursday staged a protest and asked the government to pay them the market value of land.

The protesters gathered in front of the camp of Chinese workers in Koza Bandai and staged the protest. The participants were chanting slogans against the invoking of Section-4 for land acquisition for the project in the district.

The office-bearers of the Corridor Front, a group of different political parties and civil society organisations, including the body’s convener Dr Said Alam Mahsud participated in the protest.Chief of the Battagram Qaumi Ittehad Tehmas Khan, provincial general secretary of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI)-ideological group Zubair Anjum and others were leading the protesters.

The speakers said that the district administration had issued notices to the land and other property owners to vacate their houses without taking them into confidence.They said that neither any compensation was paid to the owners nor any alternative arrangements had been made to shift the families.

The speakers said the winter season was about to start and the affectees would be forced to live under the open sky. “The affectees are even not provided any tents,” said Tehmas Khan.He said that a huge portion of the local population would be affected due to the construction work of the CPEC in Battagram.