MANSEHRA: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has cleared the major hurdle to the resumption of work on Dasu dam project and assured the landowners whose land is being acquired for the purpose that they will be paid market price of their land.

“We are thankful to the chief minister who has ordered the district administration to fix prices of land being acquired for Dasu dam in accordance with the market rate,” said PML-N MPA Abdul Sattar Khan while speaking to mediapersons on Tuesday.

Sattar Khan said that members of the landowners committee, including Malik Sar Mukhtar, Shamsur Rehman and Malik Qadam Khan, met the chief minister in his presence in Peshawar the other day and apprised him of their problems.

He said that Mr Khattak announced on the occasion that landowners would be paid market price of their land.

He said that the issue of land prices of 4,230 MW Dasu dam was concerned with the provincial government which Mr Khattak had now resolved.

The meeting was also attended by MPAs Wajiuzaman and Zareen Gul.

Mr Khan said that now they were optimistic that other issuers related to the federal government would also be settled soon and work on the project, suspended some four months ago, would be resumed.

TAX ON BIRD SELLERS: Traders selling birds and pets asked the provincial government here on Tuesday to abolish the Rs5,000 annual tax imposed on them recently otherwise they would go on strike against the decision.

Hafiz Ijazur Rehman, district president of the traders’ association, told mediapersons that employees of the wildlife department had started collecting Rs5,000 tax from each shop selling birds and pets, which was not acceptable to the traders.

MPA says Kohistan admin asked to pay landowners as per market price

He said that it was an additional tax as the bird and pet sellers were already paying all taxes levied by the government on shopkeepers. “We will not allow personnel of the wildlife department to harass the bird and pet sellers,” he said.

Haq Nawaz, president of Bird and Pet Sellers Association, said that they were playing the role of a middleman between the farmers and those buying the birds.

“We earn a meagre profit on selling a bird or pet and the major portion goes to the one who brings the birds and pets to our shops,” he said, adding that the provincial government should reconsider its decision about the tax.

Mr Nawaz warned that if the government did not abolish the new tax they would be left with no other option, but to go to the court of law for their rights and also observe strike.

A group of traders later met Khursheed Abbasi, the sub-divisional officer of wildlife, who assured them that he would take up their demands with the high-ups of his department.

Published in Dawn January 28th, 2015

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