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Gwadar people's grievances
Dispelling fears expressed by a section of Gwadar residents,
the Balochistan governor and chief minister have done well to
reassure the local people that the building of a new port in
Gwadar will create better job opportunities and other means of
income for them.
The rush of investors eager to purchase land in the upcoming
port city in recent months has led a section of the local
population to believe that they would be dislodged and
dislocated in order to make room for the development projects
associated with the new port and short-changed in the
process.
Gwadar fish harbour has long been one of the remotest outposts
offering little in terms of livelihood or even basic
amenities. The construction of a deep sea port there will
considerably enhance the prospects of a better life for the
impoverished people of the Mekran region, who would find new
job opportunities opening up, and a civic infrastructure built
to meet the demands of a modern port. The economic activity
thus generated will naturally prove beneficial for the
generally poor local people.
That said, the fear of dislocation expressed by certain
sections is not totally unfounded. Since the construction of
the port began last year, some real estate racketeers and land
mafia operatives from Karachi, Lahore and other big cities
have done a roaring business buying land from the local people
at nominal prices and selling it off to the moneyed people and
multinationals at exorbitant rates.
As work progresses on the construction of the port and the
infrastructure, land grabbers are making quick bucks at the
expense of the local, mostly small, landowners using pressure
tactics and influence with the officials forcing the owners to
sell their land and relocate to the desert outside the city.
The Balochistan government would do well to look into the
matter so as not to give a handful of greedy realtors a carte
blanche to rip off and harass an already deprived and
impoverished people.
The DAWN
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Pakissan.com;
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