KOHAT: The local residents on Wednesday staged a protest sit-in at Syab, where huge oil and gas reserves have been found, against the OGDCL for not carrying out the promised development projects and ignoring them in provision of jobs.

The elders vowed to continue the protest unless they were provided their due share in jobs and the development funds.

They said the company at the time of purchasing their land last year had promised to rehabilitate broken roads, streets and drains, but funds had not been released to the departments concerned.

Nazar Afridi, president of a local committee, and its members Sajjad Khan and Shafqat Bokahri, told journalists that outsiders had been provided jobs, which was injustice with the people of Kohat, especially the KP-80 constituency, where oil and gas reserves had been discovered.

The committee members alleged that federal state minister Sheharyar Afridi and adviser to the chief minister, MPA Ziaullah Bangash had appointed their blue-eyed people.

They said they sold their precious land at the throwaway rate of Rs4,000 per kanal in the hope to get share in the royalty funds, but to no avail. They said the market price of their land was approximately Rs400,000 per kanal.

They regretted that their source of farming had also been snatched from them as the company had installed machinery at their fertile lands.

The elders said the area’s environment and potable water had become polluted, but the OGDCL was not ready to compensate them.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2020