Sit-in held outside AC office against non-payment of compensation

CHITRAL: People whose crops and fruit trees were damaged during the laying of transmission lines from Golen Gol hydro powerhouse protested here against non-payment compensation yo them by the government.
The affected people from Koghuzi, Ragh, Kuju and Denin held a sit-in outside the office of the assistant commissioner of Chitral.
Representing the protesters, Khurshid Hussain Mughal said the amount of compensation was transferred from WAPDA to the assistant commissioner two months ago but the affected people were not being paid the compensation.
He said over a dozen meetings had been held and verification of damages carried out but the AC was adopting delaying tactics and not clearing the payments.
Mr Mughal said the affected people were not seeking alms from the government but demanding compensation for their crops and trees damaged during the development work.
The protesters said they would continue their protest until the payment of the compensation.

They said they had become fed up with the repeated visit to the office and promises by the AC to clear the compensation.

As a last resort, they decided to stage the sut-in outside the office to get the matter resolved.
Meanwhile, an official in the AC office said cheques were bro g prepared and would be handed over to the affected people after completion of all formalities. — Muhkam Uddin Ayuni