GUJRAT: Over 100 residents of three villages of the district, including women, who had earlier staged a protest demonstration against lifting of sand from the river Chenab bed under a government contract, have been booked by Mungowal police, allegedly for blocking road and damaging the contractor’s machinery and vehicles.

Those booked also include 40 women, 24 of them nominated, besides a former union council chairman affiliated with the the ruling PML-N.

The case was registered on the complaint of a contractor, Parvez Aslam of Langey.

The complainant says in the FIR that he had got a contract for lifting from the Chak Gill block of the river Chenab for Rs27.8 million on two-year lease -- from Dec 23, 2024 to Dec 22, 2026.

However, the complainant alleged, the locals have been creating hurdles to his sand-lifting business on different occasions.

He said in the FIR that on March 9, 2026, as many as 63 men and 40 women, along with a former UC chairman, Shahid Naeem Butt and Imtiaz Warraich etc, intercepted the tractor-trolleys and dumpers carrying sand.

The contractor alleged that the villagers also poured sand into the engines of some tractors and damaged other machinery deployed for lifting sand from the river bed. The suspects also hurled life threats at the drivers of these vehicles and other staff, he added.

Acting on the complaint, the police registered the case against over 100 suspects, including women, under sections 341, 440, 506, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), without making an arrest so far.

As per local sources, scores of the residents of three villages -- Chak Gill, Langay and Nawan Lok -- had staged a protest demonstration against the lifting of sand from the newly-created Chak Gill block of the river Chenab.

The protesters apprehended that around 2,500 acres of agricultural land in these villages might face erosion by river water because of the lifting of sand from the river bed, depriving them of their farm incomes.

The protesters had urged Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to take notice of the issue and order cancellation of the sand-lifting contract.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2026