MANSEHRA: The Kaghan residents, whose land is being acquired for the 840MW Suki Kanari hydropower project, have warned they will not allow the project`s execution until the price of their land is fixed.

`The government imposed Section 4 (of the Land Acquisition Act)last year to get hold of our land but now, it has planned to conduct a survey for the land to be acquired. However, we want to make it clear that we won`t allow survey teams in the area until land price and other modalities are fixed and jotted down,` head of the landowners` committee Qari Hameedur Rehman toldreportersinBalakothere.

He said the landowners had decided not to allow the start of the survey for the dam on theKunhar River in Kaghan valley until the prices of their land, trees and houses to be adversely affected by the project were settled and that a written agreement was signed in this respect.

Qari Hameed said landowners didn`t want to create hurdles to the project but the government even after agreeing to their demands was reluctant to fix land price.

A landowner, Mohammad Ashfaq, said the Hazara commissioner had announced that all demands of landowners were logical and would be accepted but suddenly, the government had decided to begin the project survey without taking them into confidence.

`We want market price for our land before the start of the survey,` he said.

Landowner Ijaz Ahmad said the government should avoid moves, which could trigger agitation by landowners to be affected by the power project.

`We want the execution of this mega project without any hurdle but the government seems not sincere about the project as it has planned the survey without fixing the prices for land,trees and houses,` he said.

He said once the said prices were fixed, the government could execute the project smoothly.

ARMS SHOP GUTTED: Two people suffered critical burns after a huge fire broke out inside an arms shop on the Karakoram Highway here on Friday.

The fire caused an explosion injuring shop owner Ijaz Khattak and customer Arshad Firdos. A motorcycle parked outside the shop was also burnt in the incident.

According to the preliminary investigation by the police, the explosion occurred after a visitor litacigarette atthe shop.

The injured were taken to the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital, where doctors referred them to the Ayub Medical Complex Abbottabad in precarious condition.

The police said the lighting of the cigarette caused the explosion as the owner had used a highly inflammable antirust spray in the shop.

They said after registering a case, they`d begun investigation to know the exact cause of the explosion.