Court moved against possible scrapping of airport project

MANSEHRA: The lawyer fraternity on Saturday moved a local court seeking a stay order against the federal government’s plan to scrap the airport project sanctioned by the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in Sawan Mera area in 2017.

“The previous government had already acquired over 5000-kanal land for the project and also released an amount of Rs320 million but now the deputy commissioner wants to stop payments to landowners,” Basharat Abid Khan, the president of District Bar Association, told reporters after filing the case in the court. A group of lawyers, led by Abid Khan, submitted the case with Senior Civil Judge Bilal Tanoli, who summoned deputy commissioner Mansehra and others concerned officials to appear on March 21.

The president of the district bar said that the federal government had written to the deputy commissioner not to pay land price to owners. “It seems the government wants to cancel the project aimed at promoting tourism in Hazara division. The mega project was sanctioned by the previous government under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects. We will fight legal battle against the move at all forums,” he added. He said that landowners, whose land was acquired for the airport project in Sawan Mera area of Tanawal, were eagerly waiting for the release of payments. Arif Tanoli, a lawyer, said that the importance of the region had increased after the CPEC and the construction of an airport in Hazara was a must to meet the requirements.