Non-allotment of plots: Earthquake victims stage protest in Balakot

MANSEHRA: The traders and affectees of the 2005 devastating earthquake on Tuesday staged protest and marched through Balakot bazzar barefoot to demand the allotment of plots at the New Balakot city project.

“The Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority has announced to resume work on the NBH project just after the October 2005 earthquake anniversary but no work has been launched,” Rajab Ali Naqash, the president of Young Ittehad, told protesters in Balakot.

The protesters adopted the novel way to lodge the protest against the government’s apathy to complete the NBC housing project even after 15 years to its groundbreaking in 2007.

The protesters, some of them barefoot, marched from Ayub bridge to the police station. Holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans, they chanted slogans against the Erra and the government.

“We have been living a miserable life in the prefabricated house but the Erra could not complete the work on the multi-billion housing project,” Naqash said.

Speaking on the occasion, president Balakot’s Traders’ body Anwar Lala said that if the Erra don’t resume work till October 15, they would stage sit-in outside the prime minister residence at Banigalla.

“Henceforth we would not sit calmly and stage a sit-in outside Imran Khan’s residence and outside the Provincial assembly in Peshawar for our rights,” added Anwar Lala.

The former president of traders body in Balakot Jawad Iqbal said that Imran Khan had visited the affected families just after the tragedy and announced support in their rehabilitation but he did nothing for the rehabilitation of the affected families even after becoming prime minister.

“We want an immediate retrieval of land acquired for the NBC at Bakrial and still being illegally occupied by locals,” Iqbal added.

The former nazim Balakot, Noor Hussain, said that they would never give up and fight for their rights at every stage.

POWER OUTAGES: The commercial and domestic consumers have denounced the prolong power outage across the district

“The Peshawar Electricity Supply Company has been suspending repeatedly the electricity in the name of repairing on the transmission lines, which is unacceptable to us at any cost,” Fayyaz Solaria, a trader leader told the reporters here on Tuesday.

He said that Pesco has been suspending electricity after every two to three days from 9 in morning to 4 pm in the name of the repair, which has affected their business activities