HARIPUR: The residents of several Khanpur villages here on Tuesday warned that they would stage a sit-in outside PTI chief Imran Khan’s mansion in Banigala if Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act was not withdrawn in the area within a week.

Owners of the small pieces of land, including Zardad Khan, Haji Allah Ditta, Haji Rafiq, Hafiz Kifaytullah and Nazak Khan, told reporters here that the government had imposed Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act to get hold of 1,300 kanals of land in Padni, Khoi Nara, Gujar Nala, Pind Muneem, Tanawal Mohra and other villages of Khanpur area.

They said the villages had a population of over 30,000 and the land being acquired for a cement plant has a Basic Health Unit, a government primary school, scores of houses and fertile land.

The landowners said they and most residents of their villages owned small lands and had been tilling them for decades to earn livelihood but the government’s policymakers had selected their land for a cement plant thought a vast area lied unused in different parts of the district.

The villagers requested the Supreme Court’s chief justice to take a suo motu notice of the matter. They also warned that they would stage a sit-in outside the PTI chief’s mansion in Banigala if the government didn’t withdraw Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act after seven days.

TMA CRITICISED: Seven nazims of the neighbourhood councils in Haripur district on Tuesday criticised the tehsil municipal administration for poor performance and blamed it on the tehsil municipal officer.

Malik Idrees, Qazi Habibur Rehman, Waheed Khan, Liaquat Hayat, Faisal Khal Turk, Seth Attaur Rehman and Azeem Khan told reporters here that more than 135 sanitation workers had been drawing salary from the TMA exchequer for several years but only few of them were doing duty in 13 urban neighbourhood councils.

They complained that solid waste had been cleared from the city for a long time.

The nazims also alleged corruption in the award of contracts for the de-silting of the city’s drains and watercourses.

When contacted, TMO Shoaib Khan denied the charges and said he was diligently performing duty in line with the law.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2018