2005 earthquake affectees stage sit-in

MANSEHRA: The affectees of the 2005 devastating earthquake staged a sit-in Balakot to demand completion and allotment of plots at the new Balakot City Housing project, which was inaugurated 13 years ago.

“The successive governments had pledged early completion of the New Balakot City project but we are still waiting for the allotment of plots,” Maulana Qazi Khalilur Rehman, the prayer leader of the central mosque, told the participants of the protest in Balakot on Saturday.

The sit-in camp, which was established at the Ayub Bridge in the heart of the Balakot town, would continue till October 8.

A big protest rally would also be taken out on October 8 to mark the anniversary of the unmatched tragedy of the recent past.

He said that the then president, Gen Pervez Musharraf, had inaugurated the Rs13 billion project in 2007.

However, work on the mega housing project was suspended in 2012, he lamented.

“The government has paid Rs1.2 billion to the landowners before the ground-breaking but successive governments couldn’t complete this housing project and survivor’s families still live in makeshift prefabricated shelters,” said Maulana Rehman.