WAPDA asked to pay compensation for crops destroyed during installation of transmission lines
CHITRAL: People affected by the installation of transmission lines from Golen Gol have called upon the hovernment to pay them compensation for which they have been waiting for over three years.
Talking to this correspondent here, Muhkam Uddin, Rehmat Wali Khan and other representatives of the people on whose agricultural and other land the towers of the transmission lines were installed said that three years ago they allowed the WAPDA staff and others to install the towers at their agricultural land.
The land was also used to transport the poles by using heavy machinery and vehicles.
This destroyed crops on the land but the affected people allowed the staff to use their land in the best interest of the nation. Because of this cooperation, the electricity was transmitted out of Chitral to provide power to the consumers in down districts.
They said a naib tehsildar of the revenue department carried out a survey of the land in Ayun without informing the locals and prepared a list of the affected people. As the naib tehsildar prepared the list in the absence of the locals, the names of a large number of affected people were not included in it.
The affected people said even after the passage of three years, they have not been paid compensation for the losses they suffered during the installation of the transmission lines.
They said if WAPDA or any other government department had the right to use private land for its projects without paying compensation to the owners, the locals should have been informed about it before hand.
They called upon the government authorities to take notice of the matter and order the departments concerned to pay them compensation without any further delay.