Unmet demands: Kohistan landowners forcibly stop work near Dasu Dam

Access road linking dam site to KKH blocked through sit-in

KOHISTAN: Landowners in Kohistan on Monday stopped workers from continuing construction work near the Dasu Hydro Power Project, a member of an action committee told The Express Tribune.

Members of the Dasu Hydro Power Project Action Committee (DHPPAC) on Monday forcibly stopped construction work on an access road which connects the dam site and the Karakoram Highway (KKH) and blocked the road.

Shamsur Rehman, a landowner and member of the DHPPAC told The Express Tribune that the 80-member committee met at Barseen village on the side of KKH on Sunday evening and discussed the continuous delay by Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and the government in accepting their nine-point charter of demands.

The committee then unanimously decided that unless their demands were met through a written agreement, they would now stop all types of construction on their land demarcated for the dam.

On Monday, committee members led by Raja Muhammad Arif, Haji Ghulam Said and Haji Samandar, staged a sit-in on the under construction access road and forcibly stopped work.

A Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPA from Kohistan, Abdul Sattar Khan, also confirmed the development.

Survey and construction work in the reservoir area for the dam had already been suspended by landowners earlier in July. In August, the DHPPAC handed Wapda and the local administration a nine-point charter of demands with an October 2  deadline for meeting the demands.

But nearly 20 days later, and one deadline extension going unmet, the DHPPAC finally decided to block work on the dam on Sunday.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2016.