ahlam1399
06-08-2016, 12:58 AM
Complain their land being forcibly acquired without consulting them
PESHAWAR: Village elders held a protest meeting in Katlang area against the proposed Swat Expressway as they said their precious land was being acquired without seeking their consent for the project.
The elders from Shamozai, Ghundo, Babozai and Matha villages complained that the Expressway was of ** benefit to them but would be only beneficial for people of Swat and rest of Malakand division. They said large tracts of their land had earlier been acquired for the Baizai irrigation project and just when the canal was ready they were being forced to provide land for the Expressway.
The pointed out that the provincial government and its departments as well as the consultants of the project have yet to take the landowners into confidence. They said surveys have been done and changed and **w the employees of the prospective contractors were busy doing their own surveys without consulting village elders or landowners whose land would be acquired for the Expressway. They said the landowners and those whose houses, mosques and graveyards would be demolished to make way for the Expressway were worried but **body in the government had told them anything about the project or given them any assurance.
Some of the elders and landowners claimed that 40,000 acres of fertile and cultivated land in Shamozai, Ghundo, Babozai and Matha is at risk due to the projects like the Expressway that has neither been demanded by the inhabitants of these four villages **r has any benefit for them. “Our land and future should **t be destroyed for the development of Swat and other places in Malakand division. We should be heard before finalizing the project,” one of the elders stressed.
The elders argued that if the Expressway was necessary then it should be built according to its old alignment. They wondered why the alignment of the Expressway couldn’t be taken straight from Katlang to Palay village in Malakand district instead of giving it a curve and passing it through Matha, Shamozai, Ghundo and Babozai and destroying their land and means of livelihood. “We were anxiously looking forward to the completion of the Baizai canal as it was going to irrigate our rain-fed land, but we weren’t aware that our joy would be turned into sorrow by acquiring our land for the Expressway without even seeking our consent. Projects are made to benefit the people but here we are being deprived of our land to benefit others,” complained one of the affected landowners.
An old woman, widow of **or Tasham from Shamozai village, said she had been unable to eat or sleep for days after the government officials put a red mark on her house located on the Ghundo-Shamozai road. “I was told this meant that my house would be demolished to make way for the road. **body asked me what to speak of consoling me. I am a widow and where will I live or how can I build a**ther house?” she asked. “I appeal to the authorities to have mercy on me in this old age,” she told The News while wiping away her tears.
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PESHAWAR: Village elders held a protest meeting in Katlang area against the proposed Swat Expressway as they said their precious land was being acquired without seeking their consent for the project.
The elders from Shamozai, Ghundo, Babozai and Matha villages complained that the Expressway was of ** benefit to them but would be only beneficial for people of Swat and rest of Malakand division. They said large tracts of their land had earlier been acquired for the Baizai irrigation project and just when the canal was ready they were being forced to provide land for the Expressway.
The pointed out that the provincial government and its departments as well as the consultants of the project have yet to take the landowners into confidence. They said surveys have been done and changed and **w the employees of the prospective contractors were busy doing their own surveys without consulting village elders or landowners whose land would be acquired for the Expressway. They said the landowners and those whose houses, mosques and graveyards would be demolished to make way for the Expressway were worried but **body in the government had told them anything about the project or given them any assurance.
Some of the elders and landowners claimed that 40,000 acres of fertile and cultivated land in Shamozai, Ghundo, Babozai and Matha is at risk due to the projects like the Expressway that has neither been demanded by the inhabitants of these four villages **r has any benefit for them. “Our land and future should **t be destroyed for the development of Swat and other places in Malakand division. We should be heard before finalizing the project,” one of the elders stressed.
The elders argued that if the Expressway was necessary then it should be built according to its old alignment. They wondered why the alignment of the Expressway couldn’t be taken straight from Katlang to Palay village in Malakand district instead of giving it a curve and passing it through Matha, Shamozai, Ghundo and Babozai and destroying their land and means of livelihood. “We were anxiously looking forward to the completion of the Baizai canal as it was going to irrigate our rain-fed land, but we weren’t aware that our joy would be turned into sorrow by acquiring our land for the Expressway without even seeking our consent. Projects are made to benefit the people but here we are being deprived of our land to benefit others,” complained one of the affected landowners.
An old woman, widow of **or Tasham from Shamozai village, said she had been unable to eat or sleep for days after the government officials put a red mark on her house located on the Ghundo-Shamozai road. “I was told this meant that my house would be demolished to make way for the road. **body asked me what to speak of consoling me. I am a widow and where will I live or how can I build a**ther house?” she asked. “I appeal to the authorities to have mercy on me in this old age,” she told The News while wiping away her tears.
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