Dasu power project: Land affectees stage protest in Upper Kohistan

MANSEHRA: The people of Upper Kohistan on Tuesday staged a sit-in outside the deputy commissioner and Wapda offices to demand the expulsion of the non-locals appointed in the 4300 megawatts Dasu Hydropower Project.

“We have earlier given a deadline to the district administration and Wapda to expel the non-locals appointed on the non-technical and labourers positions but to no avail. And now our sit-in will continue until all our demands are met,” Maulana Waliullah Tauheedi told the participants of the sit-in staged outside the Wapda’s offices in Dasu, the district headquarters of Upper Kohistan.

The protesters, who staged a sit-in outside the deputy commissioner offices earlier in the day, marched on Karakoram Highway up to the Wapda offices and raised slogans in support of their demands against the Wapda and administration.

Maulana Waliullah said that the Wapda was not paying the price of the land the affected families in accordance with the formula chalked out by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Department and introduced its own ‘ Global Information System,’ which was unacceptable to them.

“We want an immediate expulsion of non-locals from employment and payments in accordance with the Revenue Departments record, otherwise, we will continue our sit-in till the acceptance of our demands,” Bakht Boland, another speaker, said.

He added that the people of Upper Kohistan had rendered great sacrifices for the Dasu Hydropower project but were still deprived of their rights. “We want implementation of an agreement reached between the Wapda and the landowners in 2016,” said Bakht Boland.