HARIPUR, June 12: The Sarhad Development Authority (SDA) has issued notices to the industrialists of the Hattar Industrial Estate (HIE) under the Land Revenue Act, asking them to pay compensation at market rates to those affected landowners whose lands was acquired for the HIE in 1988, Dawn has learnt from official sources here on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court, in its February verdict, fixed the new rates with certain amount of Jabbrana and interest on the request of the former landowners of the Kotnajibullah village.
The SDA acquired 453 acres of land from the villagers to develop the fourth and the fifth phases of the HIE at rates between Rs11,000 and 16,000 per kanal in 1988.
As the landowners, most of whom belong to the family of former chief election commissioner Sardar Fakhar-i-Alam, were not satisfied with the amounts paid to them by way compensation, they moved the apex court, seeking compensation according to the market rates.
According to a source in the SDA, the Supreme Court direct the authority to make payments to the former landowners at the new rates of Rs36,000 per kanal in addition to six per cent interest on the amounts and 15 per cent as Jabbrana from the date of the acquisition of the lands.
The SDA, which have already paid Rs7.5 millions in the sessions court on the same count, has issued notices to all the plot owners of the HIE under the Land Revenue Act, asking them to pay their outstanding amounts of compensation to the owners as ordered by the apex court.
According to an estimate, the industrialists would be paying Rs72.488 millions to the former owners, otherwise they would face arrests and fines, a SDA official said, while talking to Dawn.
The Hattar Industrial Estate, the second biggest revenue- generating industrial zone of the province, consists of some 400 industrial plots with over 70 per cent sick or undercompleted units.
Business concerns in the HIE, as per given statistics, have employed over 10,000 workers of either sex.
Commenting on the payment of increased compensation to the owners, Haripur Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice-President Malik Mohammad Fareed termed the SDA’s decision unjust and fraught with harmful effects.
He said that over 70 per cent units had already gone sick or had been closed down due to taxes of numerous kinds. He feared that the fresh increase in the rates of plots would pave the way for a complete shutdown of the HIE.
HCCI President Tehsin-ul-Haq Awan also termed the increase in the prices of the plots a cruel decision, which was not conducive for investment. He demanded that the decision be withdrawn.
District Nazim Dr Raja Aamir Zaman said, while speaking to the participants of a session of the HCCI the other day, that the district government has refrained from imposing any taxes on the industrial and commerce sectors, realizing their problems and contribution to the national economy during the current fiscal year.
The Nazim remarked that no local tax should be imposed on traders and the industrialists of Hattar, as they were already under the burden of heavy taxes.
As Hattar was in the jurisdiction of the tehsil municipal administration, it must review its decision of levying taxes on the local traders, he said, calling on the TMA to considerably reduce its non-developmental expenditure so that the people were not further taxed.
He asked the industrialists of Hattar to hire unskilled local people and pay the women workers according to the government’s wage policy.
The Nazim informed the session that carpeting of Hattar Taxila Road, a project of Rs90 millions, was in progress and would be completed by July 30.