MIRPUR (AJK): The effectees of Mangla dam upraising project have been struggling to get the enhanced settlement compensation amounting Rs. 4.25 billion, despite clear verdict of the Superior Court of AJK to Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) to complete the process at the earliest.
The thousands of people living on the peripheries of towns located all around Mangla dam had to vacate their build up properties and agriculture lands when government of Pakistan decided to enhance storage capacity of the reservoir.
Through Mangla Dam Raising Project (MDRP), storage capacity of Mangla Reservoir was raised to 1242 ft from 1202 ft, making Mangla the largest reservoir in Pakistan.
The project started in 2004 and was completed in five years. Government of Pakistan completed reservoir capacity building task however, issues related to people affected in the project are still pending and more than a decade has passed. Thousands of affected people have died since then.
The affected areas fall around Mirpur city, Islamgarh, Chaksawari, and Dudyal and other small towns falling in district Mirpur. Mirpur is the largest, well planned, and the most populated city of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
According the record available with The News Today more than 9,000 acres of the land was affected on the periphery of the dam in the uprising project. This includes 4,299 acres barren land while rest was agriculture and residential land.
The most affected land was residential and agricultural around Chaksawari and Dadyal towns having area of 803 acres and 4,358 acres, respectively.
Mangla Dam raising project also directly affected 3,273 acres land near Mirpur city; including 240 acres residential land, 860 acres agriculture land and 2173 acres barren land. Around 2,299 acres land near Islamgarh town including 149 acres residential land, 617 acres agriculture land and 1533 acres area of barren land came under water.
In areas around Chaksawari town 2,811 acres of land including 242 acres residential, 1,151 acres agriculture and 1,418 acres barren land came under water.
Areas around the Tehsil Dadyal was most affected where 4,358 acres of land, which included 153 acres residential, 1,354 acres agriculture and 2,173 acres barren land came under water when storage capacity of the lake was increased more than a decade back.
Record of Mangla Dam Raising Project (MDRP) Affairs office shows that a population of 125,441 people was directly affected.
Besides monetary compensation, the government has reserved 22,457 Kanals and 43 Marlas land to setup new towns including New Mirpur city, new town Islamgarh, new town Chaksawari, new town Dudyal and new town Siakh to resettle the affected population.
However, affected people say that these towns are yet to be fully developed because WAPDA has been reneging from its commitments to develop these localities as state of the art towns.
A high ranking officer Chaudhry Ayub designated by AJK government to tackle the affairs of Mangla Dam Raising Project (MDRP) effectees, in an interview informed this scribe that WAPDA has successfully completed the land settlement issue initially and paid Rs. 48.57 billion compensation. However, a large number of people knocked the doors of courts to enhance payments since they have extended families.
He informed that total 1692 petitions were filed against WAPDA in superior courts of AJK for settlement of enhanced payments.
Around 964 applications were rejected by court on different grounds, another 422 petitions are under trial, while 306 petitions have been decided so far. Chaudhry Ayub said apex court’s decisions are fully in the knowledge of WAPDA high ups.
“We are waiting response of WAPDA to implement Court verdict; once the WAPDA manages the funds of Rs. 4.25 billion, the disbursement of enhance payments will start. These payments will be disbursed through court”, he maintained.
Official data further revealed that the people of affected areas including Mirpur, Islamgarh, Dadyal, Chaksawari and Siakh cultivated millet, fruits, wheat and various types of vegetables on large tracts of fertile land.
A social activist for rights of Mangla Dam affectees, Waseem Latif Sani while commenting on issues related Mangla Dam Raising Project (MDRP) said Dam induced displacements badly affect the living ways of the inhabitants due to the negligence and mismanagement in resettlement policies.
He said that there is a dire need to bring improvement in planning, designing and implementation of in line with “National Resettlement Policy of Pakistan 2000”.
The available resources like government offices and NGO’s must be used pro-actively to protect people from poverty by helping them in resettlement.
Also Read: Mangla Dam Raising Project affectees still waiting civic facilities
