HARIPUR: The dispute between the Khanpur Dam authorities and the tehsil municipal administration once again intensified here on Monday when the TMA staff attempted to ‘forcibly’ occupy the dyke area of the reservoir.

However, the dam’s officers and security guards stopped them from removing the debris the dam authorities had dropped to block the access to the area on the plea that the matter was sub judice.

Khanpur Dam project director Sohaib Arshad said that the TMA staff led by the tehsil municipal officer came with tractors to the Khanpur area to clear the access route to the dyke area for declaring the land of Wapda as parking lot despite the fact that the matter was in court.

He added the Khanpur Dam authorities, boat association and TMA Khanpur had already moved court against each other with the contention of utilisation of the dam’s water and land (both property of Wapda) for recreational purposes. Mr Arshad said that there was no written order from the court for using the dam’s dyke area for parking purposes nor both sides had any understanding in that regard.

While dam authorities say matter is sub judice, TMO insists court allowed recreational activities

He said that staff of the TMA Khanpur had also attempted to forcibly occupy the land the other day, but was stopped and the matter was brought to the notice of district police officer and the deputy commissioner, but the local police did not cooperate with dam authorities.

“TMA has no jurisdiction on dam’s land nor has any court,” he insisted, adding that the area was known as Malkanwala Dyke, which was an important area of dam, and in case of forced occupation the TMA Khanpur would be responsible for any loss or damage to the dam’s structure.

The dam’s project director said that the area the TMA wanted to occupy was the sole property of the federal government and unless there was any agreement or a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the parties the dam’s land could not be used for recreational purposes or tax collection.

Khanpur TMO Ayesha Tahira told reporters that recreational activities had been going on in the same area since 2018, but despite court’s order the executive engineer Khanpur had barred TMA staff from clearing the access route to the boating area for the purpose of parking of tourist vehicles.

To a question, she said that the consumer court had telephonically ordered the dam’s authorities to remove the debris to allow the recreational activities, and would issue a written order on December 19.

About the question of occupying the federal government’s land and tax collection, she said that it was the mandate of the local government but not the Wapda.

“The Khanpur Dam XEN is supposed to approach the parties for entering an agreement for recreational activities under section 16 of Wapda Act,” she claimed, adding that TMA was very much part of the provincial government. She, however, admitted that TMA Khanpur had no previous agreement with Wapda for such a purpose.

It may be added that the TMA had occupied a portion of the dam’s dyke for recreational activities of the tourists since 2020, and during the last couple of months the right to tax collection and utilisation of dam’s land by TMA had remained a bone of contention between the two sides, and led to court battles and suspension of activities last month.

The dam authorities had asked the TMA to deposit the amount of tax it had collected during the last four years without signing any MoU, and stopped the municipal staff from tax collection and issuing licences for boating.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2024