Ouch residents refuse to give land for housing society.

TIMERGARA -- Residents of Ouch on Sunday refused to give their lands located along the banks of River Swat from Chakdara Pul Chowki to the University of Malakand for construction of a housing society.

Speaking at a news conference at the Chakdara Press Club, the residents, including Sabir Khan, former state minister Malik Azmat Khan, Attaullah Khan, Malik Sadiq Khan and others, said the Malakand commissioner had imposed section-IV on 5,016 kanals of land and published an advertisement in newspapers without taking the owners into confidence.

The Ouch residents said they had already donated a large piece of land for construction of the University of Malakand and the Swat Expressway. They added that a portion of their land had been eroded by flash floods in the past.

The owners said construction of a housing society on the riverbank would harm fisheries, tourism and environment.

They said the administration's plan also negated the prime minister's vision...