GUJRAT: The residents of Samman and Mohla villages on the banks of the Chenab on Tuesday lodged a protest with the district administration for not being paid by the government contractor who was lifting sand from their land.

Scores of residents of both the villages met DCO Liaqat Ali Chatha and lodged a protest against the lifting of the sand from their land without payment by the contractor.

They alleged that the contractor was an influential man and had never paid them though he had consistently been lifting the sand since long.

The DCO summoned the official concerned ofthe Mines and Minerals Department and got a detailed briefing on the matter.

He directed the Gujrat assistant commissioner to visit the site for the demarcation of the land owned by the villagers and asked the department concerned to stop the contractor from lifting the sand from the villagers` land or pay them as per the government rate.

The Samman village has been a major area for the sand lifting by the contractor who had been awarded contract for sand lifting this year against Rs200m.

The government officials also paid a visit to the site on Tuesday along with the revenue record of the villages for demarcation.