Affected persons of Mangla Dam Raising Project: Supreme Court disposes of petition

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday disposed of a petition regarding affectees of Mangla Dam Raising Project with the observation that matter was out of its jurisdiction. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudary was hearing the case where the petitioners have sought compensation against their dislocation from the project site.
The case has been filed in the SC on behalf of the affected people of the Mangla Dam Raising Project who prayed for compensation for their displacement. The petitioners were directed to take their case to Azad Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court (SC) for adjudication because the AJK SC has jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Earlier, the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) had told the court that they already paid a substantial amount of over Rs 50 billion to the AJK government in compensation to the project affectees. WAPDA had awarded Rs 164 million contract to consulting firms to carry out a feasibility study to upgrade the 1,000-MW Mangla Power station which is scheduled to be completed in October 2011. The Mangla Power House is able to generate 1,150-MW during high reservoir level period, against the rated capacity of 1,000-MW due to permissible overloading of 15 percent.