MANSEHRA: Taking a note of the long delay in the execution of the New Balakot City housing project, the provincial assembly’s standing committee on rehabilitation and settlement has asked the administration of Hazara division to get the project’s occupied land vacated within a month.

“We are hopeful for the early completion of work on the New Balakot City project after the chairman of the standing committee ordered the commissioner and deputy inspector general of police, Hazara division, to retrieve the land meant for the project but occupied by landowners despite receiving payments,” Balakot tehsil nazim Rustam Khan told reporters here on Saturday.

The nazim, who attended the standing committee’s meeting in Peshawar on Friday, said for the first time, the provincial government had taken the right step for the resumption of work stalled on the Balakot housing project since 2010.

In a provincial assembly session held in October last year, the speaker had referred the motion tabled by Balakot MPA Mian Ziaur Rehman to the standing committee seeking early completion of work on the housing project.

People occupying land despite getting payment

The tehsil nazim said the standing committee had promised to ensure the early execution of the project to the relief of the 2005 earthquake survivors.

He said the committee would meet in Abbottabad on Feb 9 to review the project’s progress.

Mr. Rustam said Hazara commissioner and police DIG assured the committee that they would ensure recovery of the land acquired for Rs13 billion housing project to settle over 6,000 earthquake surviving families from Balakot and Garlat red zone.

He regretted the government had paid Rs1.2 billion to landowners but the latter continued to occupy the land and thus, delaying the completion of work on the New Balakot City housing project.

Meanwhile, MPA Mian Ziaur Rehman told reporters in Balakot that the government should ensure the early allotment of plots in the New Balakot City project to the quake survivors.

Mian Ashraf, a representative of the calamity surviving families, welcomed the development saying it seems the hurdles to the project would end soon.

“We’ve been on the streets for almost 11 years to claim rights, but not to avail. However, the standing committee’s meeting has given us a hope for better future,” he said.

ILLEGAL STRUCTURES: The district administration on Saturday asked the tehsil municipal administrations of Balakot, Oghi and Mansehra to remove illegal structures from their respective areas.

In a letter separately dispatched to the tehsil municipal administrations, deputy commissioner Iqbal Hussain ordered tehsil officers (revenue) to ensure the immediate removal of encroachments and illegal structures from the respective bazaars.

He also ordered the roadside encroachments to ensure smooth flow of vehicular traffic and hassle-free movement of pedestrians.

Mansehra TOR Basharat Shah said a team consisting of the administration officials and policemen would crack down on illegal structures in the city and suburban areas.

FIRE KILLS MINOR: A minor girl died after suffering burns as a huge fire broke out in her house in the remote Mittikot area of Balakot here on Saturday.

The electrical short circuit caused the incident.

The people rushed out of the house after it was gutted but the nine-month-old didn’t.

The house owner claimed the fire destroyed goods valuing more than Rs1 million.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2017