Balakot dam victims threaten to stage protest

MANSEHRA: The affectees of the 300 megawatts Balakot Hydropower project on Saturday asked the provincial government to accept their demands, or else they would block the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road to

all sorts of traffic from August 22.

“We want the market price of our land acquired for the dam and locals should be given the top priority in the employment opportunities,” one Tanveer Alam Shah told reporters in Balakot.

A group of affectees led by Tanveer Shah said that the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation had launched work

on the Balakot hydropower project at Kunhar River in Balakot tehsil of the

district last year but the landowners were still without compensation amount for their lands, house

and trees.

“We are law-abiding people and would never create hurdles in smooth execution of this energy project but the government pushed us to the corner despite our sacrifices for our motherland,” he added.

Another affectee, Riaz Shah, said that owners of houses and commercial properties were waiting for compensation money.

He said that protesters would stage the sit-in in the Paras area of Kaghan valley.

“We also invited local tehsil and village and neighbourhood councils’ chairmen and councillors to join us in our protest against the government,” Shah said.

The government had acquired over 8,000 kanals of land for the Balakot Hydropower project being built on the Kunhar River downstream.

The executive committee of the National Economic Council had sanctioned $750 million for the project last year.