MANGLA: The allotment of land to the people being displaced from the working area of Tarbela Dam Project has been started by the resettlement organisation.

This was stated here yesterday [Dec 4] by the Project Director of Resettlement, Mr Mehtab Khan, in an interview. He said actual shifting of the affected people would be started as soon as payment of compensation was made to them.

The authorities, he said, had already acquired 10,000 Kanals of irrigated land in Lyallpur district and 4,000 acres in Jhang district for the resettlement of the affected population.

Mr Mehtab Khan said that 60 to 70 per cent of this land was growing cash crops like sugarcane and cotton.

The Tarbela Resettlement Organisation has completed the assessment of 15,000 acres of land laying in the working area of Tarbela Dam site including houses and trees on them. The award for the affected villages of Bara, Dal, Kiara, and Sobra has already been announced.

Mr Mehtab Khan said that the evacuation and shifting of the 6,000 affected people would start soon after Ramzan.

[Meanwhile, as reported by our correspondent in Hyderabad,] the Government has sanctioned a sum of Rs. 53,40,000 for development of Nakabuli and Kabuli land in GM Barrage area by heavy earth-moving machinery during the current financial year, it is learnt [Dec 5].

Reports indicate that two schemes costing Rs. 755.73 lakhs are in operation in the area which envisage development of five lakh acres of land (3.5 lakh acres of state owned and 1.5 lakh acres privately owned) by way of jungle clearance, shrub eradication and land levelling.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2017