MANSEHRA: An 80-member committee of those affected by the Dasu hydropower project has asked the government to ink an agreement with them on nine points mutually agreed last week otherwise they would not allow the work on the project site.

Members of the committee met at Barsin area in Dasu to evolve a future line of action as they said that the district administration was yet to sign an agreement with them. They said that if the administration delayed inking of an agreement with them they would be left with no other option but to decide their future strategy besides halting work on the dam site.

Members of the committee, including Maulana Sabir Jamil, Haji Gulab and Shamsur Rehman, spoke on the occasion. They said that prices of the built up property be brought at par with the built up property of people of Tangir and Darail.

“We also demand Wapda to vacate lands of local people which is occupied by it without payment,” said one of the members. They also said that the agreement should ensure employment to the local people, as they were being ignored in the jobs at the dam project.

They rejected the survey conducted earlier and demanded that a new survey should be conducted under the World Bank guidelines. They also addressed the deputy commissioner, Kohistan, asking him to immediately finalise an agreement on their demands.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2016