MANSEHRA: The residents of Dasu area have warned that they will end sit-in to allow work on a local hydropower project only after they’re paid dues and the market rate for their land acquired for the initiative.

“The suspension of work on the 4,300-megawatt Dasu hydropower project is costing the federal government around Rs750 million daily but it is reluctant to meet our demands, which were accepted in 2016 by the then government,” a member of the committee representing landowners, Fazlur Rehman, told reporters in Barsian area on Saturday.

The other committee members also showed up on the occasion.

Mr Rehman said the families affected by the project had got the work on the project suspended last week by staging a sit-in to force the government to accept their demands.

“We’ll never allow Wapda to execute the hydropower initiative if the price of our land acquired by it is not increased by 10 percent,” he said.

Another committee member, Raja Arif said Wapda had acquired land and even houses for the project through the district administration but the landowners had yet to be paid for it.

“We won’t allow Wapda to resume work until our dues after 10 percent hike are paid,” he warned.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2019