Dasu power project affectees seek compensation

MANSEHRA: The affectees of the Dasu Hydropower Project on Friday took to the streets demanding an immediate release of payments under the Enhanced Self-Managed Relocation Package for over 500 families.

“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a committee to address the longstanding issues of Diamer-Bhasha Dam affectees. We also demand the formation of a similar committee for Dasu without further delay,” Gul Badshah told protesters assembled at the Karakoram Highway in the Dasu area of Upper Kohistan.

The demonstrators, holding banners and placards, marched through various roads and later gathered on the Karakoram Highway, raising slogans for swift redressal of their grievances, which, they alleged, remain unresolved by Wapda.

Badshah said that although agreements had been signed with Wapda since 2016, several issues were still pending, causing severe hardships for the affected families.“

The pace of work on schools, healthcare facilities, and roads under the Local Area Development Project is extremely slow, adding to our misery,” said another elder, Maulana Noor Nabi.

Later, the protesters held negotiations with Deputy Commissioner Upper Kohistan Tariq Ali Khan and Wapda officials at Chuchang Colony.

Representatives of the Dasu Dam affectees, including Badshah and Maulana Noor Nabi, said they had been staging protests for the last six months, but their pleas had gone unheard.“

Around 500 families are still awaiting their Enhanced Self-Managed Relocation compensation of Rs3.5 million each,” Nabi said.