SWABI: Protesting residents of Shahmansoor village here on Thursday were assured by officials of the district administration that their land would not be acquired for Naya Pakistan Housing Programme.

The jirga members resented demarcation of over 200 kanals of Shahmansoor area for the scheme a day before and soon the local people held a protest jirga on Wednesday.

The elders were informed by local farmers that a big piece of land had been demarcated and it was a surprise for them because none of the people knew about the administration’s plan.

“We would not give an inch of our land for any scheme of the government,” one of the jirga members warned. Nizar Yousafzai,who led the jirga, told this scribe that it was unanimously decided that the people of the village would remove the demarcation.

They said this land of Shahmansoor would be irrigated under the extension scheme of Pehur High-Level Canal, work on which was presently in full swing.

As per decision, the people went in a big procession to the demarcated area on Thursday morning and after completing their task of removing demarcation they reached the DC office.

Later, a few selected members met with DC Shahid Mehmood and apprised him of their reservations.

“We told the DC that the people of Shahmansoor would not give even a small piece of land for any scheme,” said a jirga member who participated in the talks.

The officials assured the jirga members that their land would not be acquired for the housing scheme.

The DC later confirmed that they were not acquiring any land in the area for a housing scheme.

TWO DROWNED: Two Afghan refugees from Gandaf refugee camp, Topi, drowned in Pehur High-Level Canal here on Thursday, said officials of Rescue 1122. They were identified as Sahar Gul, 21, and Rafiullah Khan, 18.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2020