MANSEHRA: A delegation of the district administration, local elders and Wapda on Wednesday persuaded the people of Barseen Pain area to allow a Chinese company to carry out work on Dasu dam in their village.

The villagers had stopped the company’s engineers and labourers from working on the 4200 megawatt hydropower project earlier in the year to claim better price for their land and employment for local residents.

A delegation led by Dasu assistant commissioner Mohammad Ayaz and consisting of Chinese engineers and local committee members Ghulab Khan, Shamur Rehman and Abdul Rasheed, visited Barseen Pain village and met local elders.

Work was stopped early this year over land, job issues

Mr Ayaz told villagers that the government was seriously considering their demands, especially about better price for their land to be acquired for the project, and jobs for locals in the dam project, and therefore, they shouldn’t create hurdles to the project.

The villagers welcomed the visit and said they won’t hamper the project’s execution by the Chinese company.

POWER CUTS PROTESTED: The people on Wednesday took to the streets against the prolonged and unscheduled power cuts in Ichrian area here.

The protesters shouted slogans against the Pesco and federal government and demanded smooth electric supply and end to low voltage.

Councillor Fayaz Ahmad Khan, who was in attendance, said the excessive power cuts had paralysed life in the region.

He said the electricity’s suspension lasted more than 14 hours daily and once the electric supply was restored, voltage was low damaging electric appliances.

The councillor warned the people would block the Karakoram Highway for indefinite period if the Pesco didn’t end prolonged power outages.

The protesters later dispersed peacefully after station house officer of Baffa Shafique Rehman told them he would speak to the Pesco executive engineer for corrective measures.

Meanwhile, the visitors to the open forum organised here by the police complained about the poor performance of the policemen. Haq Nawaz alleged that the local police supported the killers of his sister, who had kidnapped his brother, too, to pressure the family for out-of-court settlement.

Another resident, Inayatur Rehman, complained about high incidence of robberies, while Bashir Ahmad insisted that the Butdarian refugee camp, which was recently abandoned by repatriating Afghans, was occupied by criminals showing the police’s inefficiency.

District police officer Ahsan Saifullah told participants that he had ordered the holding of the event to know the people’s opinion about the performance of the police to ensure corrective steps.

He said he would hold such open forums in the jurisdictions of all police stations.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2017