Diamer Action Committee demands revision of land prices, employment opportunities. PHOTO: FILE
Residents of Diamer have warned to end support for Diamer-Bhasha Dam if the rights of locals are not upheld as per their wishes.
The Diamer Action Committee (DAC) presented a 37-point charter of demands in a news conference on Tuesday and asked the government to ‘accept them or pack up’.
“The demands we have presented are genuine and directly linked to the future of the dam,” said Ahmad Alam, president of DAC, a body which represents a majority of villages from Diamer. “We would not allow anyone to deprive us of our rights and the government will have to accept our demands or just leave our area,” he added.
DAC’s charter of demands calls for a revision of the prices of land being acquired by the government for the construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam in Diamer Valley. It also demands that residents of Diamer be given employment opportunities in the dam’s construction on a priority basis.
The government has paid financial compensation to residents of two villages, Thore and Hudur, while residents of eight villages are yet to be paid.
DAC General Secretary Noshad Alam said the measurement of land being acquired along with fixing its rate should be done by taking locals on board. “We will not accept any decision [that] bypasses our demands,”
he added.
Other DAC leaders said the land in the valley belongs to its people and the government cannot lay claim to it. They maintained the committee which liaised with the government and assisted it in fixing the rate of compensation did not enjoy the support of locals.
Groundbreaking for the dam was performed by former president Pervez Musharraf on April 26, 2006. Its reservoir would inundate 23 villages of Diamer district and displace more than 40,000 people living in 6,500 houses, along with 4,500 acres of cultivable land, 8,000 acres uncultivable land, several commercial areas, hotels, shops, mosques and graveyards.
It will also endanger the region’s archaeological remains including some 50,000 rock carvings and 5,000 inscriptions.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2014.
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Residents of Diamer have warned to end support for Diamer-Bhasha Dam if the rights of locals are not upheld as per their wishes.
Rights as per Wishes.