Hydropower project’s victims block road in protest

MANSEHRA: The Balakot hydropower project’s affectees on Monday staged a sit-in at the Paras area of Kaghan valley suspending the traffic between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The baton-wielding protesters also holding banners and placards raised slogans in support of their demands and against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Isaf government. Thousands of passengers travelling between the KP and Gilgit-Baltistan remained stranded on both sides of the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road in hundreds of vehicles during the protest.

The tourists, on their way to their respective destinations after spending the weekend in the Kaghan valley also remained stuck-up.“We have repeatedly met the deputy commissioner to seek the resolution of our land, houses and trees prices issues and a fresh social economic survey but he lend a deaf ear to our demands,” Junaid Qasim, a former Balakot tehsil nazim said while speaking on the occasion.

He said the district administration had imposed Section-IV of the Land Acquisition Act in 2017 and they (owners) were yet to receive the compensation amount.“We want the market price for our lands and houses acquired for the dam,” Junaid said. A former MNA, Mian Ziaur Rehman, said the Asian Development Bank should hold a fresh social survey to include the families left out earlier. “The affected families not included in the 2017 survey should be included in the fresh survey,” he suggested.

Ziaur Rehman said the Communications and Works Department was not giving them a reasonable price for their houses which would submerge in the dam’s reservoir. “The affectees and local people are being deprived of the employment opportunities and even labourers and drivers are also being hired from other parts of the country,” he complained. Speaking on the occasion, another protester, Tanveer Shah, said they would not end the sit-in until their demands were met. A heavy contingent of police remained deployed near the protesting area.