GILGIT: The federal government has decided to deploy Rangers in Diamer district as a security measure to acquire land for the Diamer-Bhasha Dam project as local residents are reportedly reluctant to leave the area.

The decision was taken by the ministerial committee on the project at its meeting held in Islamabad on Friday.

The meeting decided to deploy a wing of Rangers.

Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Birjees Tahir presided over the meeting attended by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Inter-provincial Coordina­tion Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Pir Sadaruddin Shah Rashdi, Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman, Wapda chairman Zafar Mehmood and GB Chief Secretary Tahir Hussain.

The committee reviewed the progress made so far on the project. It was informed that 90 per cent land has been acquired for the purpose.

The meeting was informed that residents of Thak area and other adjoining areas are not ready to vacate their land despite being paid compensation. “The local police are unable to deal with the situation,” the meeting was told.

The government has paid about Rs45bn as compensation, while Rs8bn would be distributed soon.

The minister for Kashmir affairs ordered the GB government to settle issues with people affected by the land acquisition through introduction of projects under confidence-building measures. He also directed the GB government to speed up the land acquisition process to ensure early ground-breaking of the much delayed project.

GB Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman claimed that his government has saved Rs10 billion by introducing transparency and fair practices in the land acquisition process.

The federal government has decided to construct half of the power projects in GB region. According to official sources, the issue of royalty to be paid to KP and GB had been resolved.

Now Diamer Bhasha Dam power plants will be installed in KP and GB.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2016