Police baton-charged and arrested around 25 persons after they blocked a road in protest seeking jobs in the Tarbela dam extension project.
At least 12 protesters also sustained injuries after the police baton-charged them.
The protesters, who were led by social activist Irum Rasheed Tahirkheli, staged a sit-in at the main gate of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) building in Ghazi and blocked the road. They were protesting against what they said non-inclusion of locals in the hiring process. The protesters chanted slogans against Tarbela mam management and continued their sit-in for five hours. The police resorted to baton-charge after the protesters refused to end their sit-in.
According to sources, the arrested protesters were shifted to Dera Ghazi Khan jail in a police van.
Earlier, addressing the protesters, Irum Rasheed said that the Tarbela Dam general manager had assured them of recruiting locals in the hiring for T-4 and T-5 extension projects of Tarbela dam.
She said that the assurance had been given in the presence of the Ghazi assistant commissioner (AC) and other officials. However, she said, the promise was not honoured and alleged that some people were recruited on nepotism.
Read Report sought on illegal recruitments
She claimed that the appointments on posts from drivers to engineers had been done secretly, which was unjust. She said that the Tarbela Dam top official was not implementing the policy, which mandated the induction of 70 per cent locals.
Irum Rasheed alleged the Tarbela dam management had offered her to induct 15 people of her choice which she rejected. She vowed to get the poor people of her area their due right.
The protesters also said that they have been affected by the dam extension project and they had sacrificed their lands for building the reservoir, which provides power to the entire country. They said that recruitments on high posts were done from other parts of the country, while the locals were even denied for posts of lower cadre.
Two days ago, locals had also filed a petition in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the non-recruitment of locals from Ghazi and Topi areas in the Tarbela extension projects.
The high court has also sent notices to the WAPDA. An official of the Tarbela dam seeking anonymity said that the hiring of locals will be carried out as per the allocated quota. While rejecting the claims of the protesters, he maintained that the hiring had been carried out on merit.
When contacted the WAPDA office in Ghazi, an official said that the official version can only be given by the Lahore office and they were not allowed to issue the statement on any issue surrounding the Tarbela dam extension project.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2021.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ