Persons affected by dam block KKH

MANSEHRA: The affectees of 850-megawatt Suki Kinari hydropower project on Monday blocked Karakoram Highway for more than four hours, demanding the government to accept their 14-point charter of demands. The demands include employment for locals and increase in prices of land being acquired for the dam being built under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor at River Kunhar in Kaghan valley.

The protesters from different villages of Kaghan valley assembled at Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road and blocked it, creating problems for commuters. The protesters, who were holding banners and placards inscribed with their demands, also raised slogans against the government. “I am stranded in the valley since morning after locals blocked Kaghan Road,” Fakhr-i-Alam, a tourist, told reporters.

He said a large number of passengers including tourists were stranded on both sides of the road in long queues of vehicles. Alam said that blockade of the main artery to picturesque Kaghan valley was not the solution to their problems and landowners should settle issues.