MUZAFFARGARH: Farmers from five villages blocked Mahmood Kot and Qasba Gujrat roads for hours on Friday against coal power projects on their land while demanding withdrawal of case against 150 farmers who were booked on charges of injuring a survey team the other day.

Mahmood Kot police had registered a case against the farmers on charges of attacking the survey team consisting of engineers and revenue officials that visited the area on Thursday.

During the protest, the farmers shouted slogans against the government. They warned of marching on Lahore if their demands were not met.

Malik Niaz Budh, a retired schoolteacher who was among the protesters, alleged that he and his family depended on 10 acres land and now he had received a notice from the government to vacate it. He said he would die but never leave the place.

The farmers had been protesting against the coal power projects since last year when Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced setting up six coal power stations in Muzaffargarh, demanding the government shift the projects to the vacant government land near village Rakh Khanpur instead of using their land in five villages along Mahmood Kot and Kot Addu roads, including villages of Budh, Wairer Sipra and Mahmood Kot.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2015

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