MUZAFFARGARH: District Coordination Officer Hafiz Shaukat Ali claims there is no more resistance against the coal-fired plant being set up at Budh union council.

At a press conference here on Monday night, the DCO, along with Kapco officials and consultants, tried to allay the apprehensions of people who were invited by the district administration to be taken on board. Conspicuous by their absence were the local public representatives as well as project chairman Haroon Sultan Bokhari, a provincial minister.

Officials said the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the coal power plant would be held in September.

The consultants assured the people that there would be no pollution or any other issue in the area the soil of which was fit for coal-power plant.

A Kapco official said that on the request of landowners he had slashed 150 acre from the total 530-acre land and also excluded the graveyards and some villages. He said now there was no justification for people to protest or resist.

He said teams had acquired land and their owners would get cheques at a rate between Rs1 million and Rs4 million per acre according to the property value.

The villagers present on the occasion shared their anxieties and apprehensions with the officials.

Earlier, provincial minister Haroon Sultan Bokhari had offered landowners Rs5 million per acre but the district government and Kapco had rejected the rates.

The Kapco official said it would do plantation and also launch welfare projects in the area. He said Kapco was installing these coal projects in others countries as well.

Budh union council chairman Rana Akhtar Husain Noon had alleged that the district administration was hurling threats and he would not allow any survey team in the union council. He appealed to the chief minister to shift the plant.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2016