HARIPUR, Feb 15: The people of three union councils of Khanpur, living in areas adjacent to the territory of Islamabad, have demanded annexation of their area with the capital through a referendum.

They believe that the Frontier government and elected representatives of the district had failed to deliver during the past 57 years and deliberately denied their constitutional right to development.

Despite having potential for becoming part of the country's tourism industry, as the area was covered with thick forest and other natural resources, these areas remained neglected and underdeveloped, said nazims, councillors and elites of union councils Najaf Pur, Barkot and Bhararay, while talking to journalists here on Monday.

These areas, right from Pir Sohawa to the left bank of river Haro in Khanpur, were a part of the capital under the development plan of 1962 and were still being corroborated by the original map of Islamabad, said Chaudhry Omar Sajid, Nazim, Union Council Najaf Pur. But seeing their political domain threatened, the political leadership of Haripur impeded the process of annexation of these villages to Islamabad, said Shahjehan Abbasi, Naib Nazim, Union Council Barkot.

Taking a round of different villages in the area, the journalists observed that a 50,000-plus population of these three Union Councils was deprived of basic amenities like metalled roads, drinking water, health care and employment opportunities.

Owing to non-availability of job opportunities, the poverty ratio was noted to be high and people often resorted to cutting trees, while a majority of the villagers worked in Islamabad and other big urban centres as daily-wage earners due to lack of an alternative source of livelihood, said Malik Mohammad Ashraf, member of Union Council Barkot. He said that an abysmally low literacy rate was the root cause of poverty of this area.

They said that state of sheer neglect on the part of elected representatives could be well-judged from the fact that an 18.5-km non-metalled road from Pir Sohawa to Kohala Bala was started being constructed by the PPP government in 1989 but it remains to be carpeted till this day.

However, in 1995, when the PPP managed to return to power, a six-km strip from Pir Sohawa to Makhnial, a picturesque picnic spot situated close to the capital, was completed at a cost of Rs40 million from the funds of the now defunct district council Haripur.

But this road strip was carpeted from Pir Sohawa to the Makhnial housing scheme during the tenure of Aftab Sherpao as the chief minister of the NWFP, apparently to facilitate the access of those politicians and army officers who had either purchased or had been gifted plots by the Rajgans of Khanpur in the Makhnial housing scheme from Islamabad, said Shah Jehan Abbasi.

While, he said, the remaining portion from Makhnial to Kohala Bala via Komal Gali has not yet been carpeted even though nine years have lapsed as a consequence of which the people of the three union councils and those who wanted to visit this area for a picnic were denied an easy and short route to Islamabad. However, an official source at the Works and Services department confirmed that the provincial government had approved and released funds for the construction of the Makhnial Kohala Bala road.

Chowdhury Mohammad Ashraf said that another access route to Islamabad from Union Council Barkot is Sangra Gali to Ruppar via Neelan Bhoto measuring 15.5 km for which Omar Ayub got Rs32.5 million approved.

So far only a 4-km section of the road has been completed as work on it has been suspended without a reason. Mr Ayub also had the area electrified recently by having it connected with the Islamabad power grid, he said.

Chowdhury Pervez told visiting journalists that the absence of health care and transport were some other problems which the people residing near the villages of Union Council Barkot had been exposed to as they had to take their patients to hospitals in Islamabad on private jeeps as there was no transport facility available for the people.

Faraz Abbasi said that there was no high or middle school for girls, while over five government primary schools were being run by the community in private houses as there was no official building available, and added that a low literacy rate in the area was one of the major contributing factors for rampant deforestation.