Shifting of site for housing colony in Batkhela sought

BATKHELA: The elders of Thana tehsil in Malakand district on Sunday asked the government to shift the site proposed for the construction of the housing colony for the government employees on agriculture land.

Speaking at a protest meeting, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Aziz Khan, former lawmaker Ghani Muhammad Khan, ex-councillor Jamaldin Khan, Izhar Khan, Maj (r) Imranullah Khan, Kalim Khan, Muhammad Ibrar Yousafzai, Perhezgar Bacha, Gulzada Khan and others said that the prime minister and chief minister had time and again announced not to build construction on agriculture lands. They said that the district administration of Malakand proposed site of agriculture land for the construction of the housing colony near Swat River.

“This site is not only a murder of the poor farmers but also invite trouble (flood) for the people to live in the colony after its completion,” Aziz Khan said. They asked the government to review the housing scheme and propose another site for the purpose or else they would be forced to take further steps including the blockade of the Swat Expressway and launch protest against the project.