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The residents of the Minapin Valley area in Nagar district of Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan (PoGB) have demanded that the authorities must re-initiate and speed up the pace of construction of the local developmental projects in the Minapin valley, and warned to take the matter to the street if their demands are not met, Pamir Times, a local news outlet of PoGB reported.
The local residents said that instead of working on the outskirts of Minapin Valley, the construction must be completed with priority in the residential areas. The residents also raised the issue of inadequate compensation being granted to the people who had sold their lands for the proposed developmental projects. The locals have stated that the work has remained halted for at least a month and the locals have been facing severe problems relating to transportation and managing essentials for the Minapin area as the damaged roads and poor surrounding infrastructure cause travel-related problems for locals and tourists, Pamir Times reported. While raising his concerns over these issues, the local village head, Iqbal said, "We had tried everything when we were demanding the redevelopment of this village and the surrounding areas. After several hardships, the administration finally agreed to redevelop our area." "In response, our local landowners sold their lands for mere pennies. Several shops were destroyed, several trees were cut and several local businesses were shifted, but now when it is the time to reap the fruits of their sacrifice, the administration has stopped the development work entirely. It has been over two months and we have requested all the authorities to respond but no one has responded." He further said that residents have sacrificed their businesses, shops and lands for the betterment of the village. However, the people have received nothing in return. Iqbal said, "These local people who have lost their businesses, shops and lands for the betterment of the village what will they do now? And an addition to that is the government's slow speed in allocating compensation of lands, I have heard that this compensation was given to the district collector's office years ago but, I don't know why it has still not reached the right people." He also mentioned that compensation for several other major highway projects like the Ghaizer Expressway, Navtar Expressway, and Chilas-Diame-Bhasha Dam had also been allotted to the authorities a long time ago. However, the work on the highway projects is not over yet and is causing a lot of problems for locals, both financially and logistically as the locals depend on tourism during the winter season which is just around the corner in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan. Expressing concern over the condition of the tourism sector in the region, he said, "The hotels that give us a major part of our income are empty because they are not able to reach our village and the Minapin Valley. We urge that the administration must act fast and keep their part of the bargain, as we have suffered a lot of loss when we gave our lands to the administration. But we will not take the damage this time, and will come out on the streets if our demands are not met." (ANI)
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