KARAK, June 9: The people, whose lands have been occupied by the government to execute Lawaghar Dam Project, have complained that they have not been compensated by the authorities concerned.

The residents of Sarki Lawaghar, Mamani Lawaghar and Shagi Lawaghar areas held a meeting here on Saturday and threatened to launch a protest movement if they were not paid the price of their lands within 10 days.

The elders of the areas including Maulana Raees Khan, Nazeer Gul, Sarfaraz Khan and Malik Moeenullah recalled that the then law minister Malik Zafar Azam had promised with them that two bridges would be constructed over the dam to facilitate local people. “But the authorities failed to fulfil the promise,” they added.

They said that government allocated Rs50 million to the landowners and for rehabilitation of the people affected by the dam but they were given only Rs10,000 per kanal. “We can’t reconstruct our homes and resolve other problems with such a meagre amount,” they said.

The elders said that they met time and again with Provincial Minister Mian Nisar Gul and MNA Mufti Ajmal for resolution of their problems but both the elected representatives didn’t honour their promises.

They said that they had no direct access to the district headquarters. “The only road leading to district headquarters in our area has been closed owing to construction of dam,” they said. They added that they had to adopt a long rout to reach the district headquarters.

The elders set a 10-day deadline for the government to resolve their problems, threatening to launch a protest movement after the expiry of the deadline.