Upper Kohistan citizens observed a shutter own and wheel jam strike in Komila bazaar against the Water and Power Development Authority’s (Wapda) failure to honor its commitments on the 4,700MW Dasu Hydropower Project on Monday, before staging a sitin outside the deputy commissioner’s office.
The victims group of Dasu dam called on protests. One day before, it brought several hundred demonstrators from among merchants and carriers to Upper Kohistan to close down companies and run a shutterdown strike.
With posters written with their demands and cries against Wapda and its leaders, the demonstrators marched in Komila and Dasu markets gripping banners.
A committee head on Dawn.com, Hafeez Ur Rehman said their meetings with Wapda had only produced empty ideas weeks ago.
He stressed, “Although Wapda accepted our 13 requests, it did not meet them, therefore we had to take to the streets again.”
Household replacement, stove compensation, medical facility construction for the local residents, and job creation for the natives as well as their recruitment in the project operation are among the requests of the Dasu project affectees.
Furthermore requested were more development funds for Upper Kohistan, one percent of DHPP revenue set aside for local uplift, commercial rates for Karakoram Highway proximity areas, and creation of new schools, colleges, and a university in the region.
Although the affectees never opposed the initiative, Hafeezur Rehman claimed they gave up their houses and endured sufferings so the project could be finished correctly and the whole nation could be helped.
He said the sitin kept going and would keep on until Wapda management essentially agreed their demands one step further beyond the written agreements they had completed several times.
Additional deputy commissioner for Upper Kohistan, Khuram Rehman Jadoon, advised Dawn.com, “Although their issue pertains to Wapda, the protesters sat in front of our office.”
Their issue is DHPP, so its officers can handle their appeals, he remarked.
Conversely, the protest in Chilas of Gilgit Baltistan reached its ninth day with protesters demanding rights as affectees of the DiamerBhasha Dam. On issues including compensation and resettlement, they have set forth a 31point manifesto.
On Sunday Amir Muqam, minister for Kashmir and GB affairs, visited the Chilas demonstrators and guaranteed they would be first handled since Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had established a panel to check the demands.
Although Muqam had asked the demonstrators to stop their sitin, they continued it today on the ninth day.
Kohistan Upper of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Diamer regions of Gilgit Baltistan were the sites of two large energy undertakings by the World Bank.
