PHC summons officials in case about cost of dam land

MANSEHRA: Peshawar High Court (PHC), Abbottabad circuit bench, has summoned the deputy commissioner, district agriculture officer and executive director Suki Kinari Hydropower Project to appear on January 16 to clarify their position on the prices of land acquired for the 830 megawatts dam.

"The district administration has imposed section-4 of Land Acquisition Act 1894 about seven months ago but it doesn't pay the price of land, houses and trees to my over 200 clients in Paras village of Balakot tehsil," Munir Hussain Lughmani advocate told reporters here on Saturday.

The Suki Kinari Hydropower Project is the only project being built in energy sector at River Kunhar in Kaghan valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Lughmani, who represented the affected families in the circuit bench, said that the bench comprising Justice Lal Jan Khan and Syed Attique Shah summoned deputy commissioner Mansehra and other stakeholders as prices of the land being acquired for the dam were fixed very much lower than the market prices.