CHITRAL: Residents of Ayun deferred their protest planned for May 7 (Sunday) after district administration of Lower Chitral assured them that compensation cheques against their land to be used for construction of Kalash valleys road would be issued from May 9th at the office of AC Lower Chitral.
The assurance cane at a meeting attended by the representatives of the locals and the district administration.
The locals had a few days ago warned that they would protest by blocking the Kalash valleys road before the start of the annual Chilim Jush festival if the compensations were not paid to them as soon as possible.
They had said that the amount had been transferred to the account of the district administration but was not being released to the landowners.
Work on construction of the much-delayed Kalash valleys road from Ayun was started in March 2022 on a three km portion of the road from Ayun to Dubash checkpost and two km from Dubash to Bumburate. The construction of the road on the 41 km private land was to be started after payment of compensation to the owners.
However, the government stopped construction work on the Ayun-Kalash valley road in December 2022 triggering protests.