DERA GHAZI KHAN, Aug 19 : Although work on the Chashma Right Bank Canal has almost been completed, the affected land owners of its third phase are not being paid in accordance with the law.
The district price assessment committee has assessed less prices which are contrary to the ground realities and wishes of land owners.
The committee held its meeting on June 22 last for the assessment of the land price which was acquired for the construction of the third phase of CRBC. An amount of Rs600 million had been deposited with NBP’s Taunsa Sharif branch four years ago to make payments to the affected people.
The Section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, bound the government to pay the affected people before the occupation of the required land. But in the case of CRBC, no rules of the act have been followed.
The work on the CRBC irrigation project was commenced in 1978. The project, mainly financed by the Asian Development Bank, includes the construction of 72 distributaries, 68 X-drainage structures and 91 bridges.
A survey conducted by Dawn revealed that land owners had come to know about the project when the contractor’s men started destroying their standing crops. No legal/official notice was received in this regard, they alleged.
The officials, they said, allegedly threatened them with dire consequences when some of the affected persons offered resistance.
It is worth mentioning that the district price assessment committee has violated the Land Acquisition Act by assessing the rates of acquired land for CRBC.
The committee assessed the rates of 55 Mauzas of Taunsa Sharif wrongfully and offered low rates in the name of market price while payments are being made under average price.
Condemning the policy of the district price assessment committee, locals and the affected people are demanding actual price of their lands.
The Land Acquisition Collector, who is a member of the committee, remained suspend for three years on the charge of corruption when he was tehsildar in 1996.
When this correspondent contacted one of the members of the committee, he said he did not know that he was a member. He requested not to mention his name.
The market price of Mauza Rohri assessed by the DPAC is Rs160,000 per acre while average price of the mauza is Rs202,880 per acre. The Nazim and influential people of the Mauza are among the cronies of district Nazim Haji Jamal Khan Leghari. Nawaz Shah, the Nazim of Mauza Rohri, is a staunch supporter of the Millat Party. The rates of rest of the mauzas are very low.
The Section 35 of the Land Acquisition Act says that the affected people should be paid according to the market price, commercial price or its potential price, but they are offering less than the market and average price.
Seven years ago, the OGDC had acquired land from Qaisranis for the construction of Kot Qaisrani Road and paid Rs256,000 per acre while on June 22 last, the DPAC assessed the rate of the same land at Rs16,744 per acre.
Since there are many irregularities in the acquisition of land and assessment of its rates, the matter needs high-level inquiry to satisfy the affected land owners of the Chashma Right Bank Canal irrigation project.