ISLAMABAD: The affectees of Tarbela and Warsak dams on Tuesday informed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights that 84,000 acres land of locals was overtaken forcefully through the Pakistan Army for construction of the dams, which resulted in making 94,000 people of the area homeless.
The Committee met under chairmanship of Member National Assembly (MNA) Babar Nawaz Khan, and was attended by parliamentarians, representatives of the affected areas and some others stakeholders. The affectees said that the government bought the land forcefully at very inexpensive prices, adding that the land had been purchased by their forefathers in very tough economic circumstances.
They said that the high court had also given its decision in their favour while the matter was pending adjudication before the Supreme Court. “In fact, we were not willing to vacate the land at all. The army used force to taken us out from our own houses where we were residing,” regretted a representative.
They further disclosed before the committee that even they have not been paid thus far for that minor amount for which the land was purchased forcefully. Moreover, they said that the dam was constructed while the residents of the area were not being supplied electricity even for a few hours while the poor people are facing various kinds of diseases.
A representative of the Tarbela dam victims informed the committee that they have been allotted alternate lands in Sindh and Punjab. However, when they reached there, the departments demanded a bribe to help them evacuate the lands from the previous owners of these lands, he said.
He said that the previous owner of the allotted lands to them was of the view that the government did not ask them before allotting the land to anyone else. The representative further said that a committee was also constituted to resolve the issue but in vain.
He said that in the documents overall 30 thousand acres of land was reserved for the affectees of Tarbela Dam while 50 percent land of was still not been allotted to them that is sheer discrimination with them.
In response, the concerned department officials told the committee that the process of obtaining land for the dam’s construction purpose was initiated in 1967 while the first phase in this regard was completed in 1995.
They said that 2,144 of the affected families were given allotment with possessions. The committee chair said that most parts of the area are deprived from basic needs.
He said that the first Government College for girls was established in 2004 while the Government College for Boys in 2007. The chair regretted that the health unit was installed there while there as it’s machinery has disappeared.
After listening to the plight of the affected people and response of the officials, chair of the Committee Nawaz Khan directed to the Ministry of Human rights and Water and Power Ministry to present all relevant documents regarding Tarbela and Warsak dams before the committee in its next meeting. The Committee also directed that they should also present to the committee all documents and MoUs were made for free provision of electricity including free education, health and other facilities to the locals of these areas.
Published in Daily Times, July 19th , 2017.
