MANSEHRA: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has filed damage suits against 23 protesters for allegedly diverting watercourses and suspending electricity production at the Dubair Khawar Hydropower Project in lower Kohistan earlier this year.
“We have received court notices in which Wapda has sought damages of over Rs360 million, alleging that the dam’s power generation remained suspended due to our protest,” Juma Shah Jallali, the chairman of Dubair Bala village council in Lower Kohistan, said on Sunday.
The summons stated that the 23 accused persons, whose names have been mentioned, led a group of locals who allegedly closed the bottom outer gate and diverted the watercourse from a local stream.
The notices, issued through the district and sessions judge of Lower Kohistan, claimed that Wapda suffered financial losses exceeding Rs360 million due to the suspension of power generation.
“We, Wapda, have also approached the police for the registration of cases against those who created hurdles in electricity production at the Dubair Khawar dam,” the notices stated.
Police have also booked around 60 protesters, including those served with damage notices by Wapda, under the Anti-Terrorism Act, though none of them have been arrested so far.
The protesters had staged a sit-in for nearly two months during the first quarter of 2026, compelling Wapda to reconstruct the 26-kilometre Dubair-Ranowalia road, which had been washed away in flash floods in 2023.
Jallali said that all those served notices for financial damages would jointly contest the cases.
Meanwhile, the district administration of Lower Kohistan, in a press release issued on Sunday, said that the tendering process for the reconstruction of the Dubair-Ranowalia road would be completed soon.
“The district administration, in collaboration with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Revenue and the Commissioner Hazara, has completed settlement and land acquisition for the Dubair-Ranowalia road, and now Wapda should issue tenders,” it said.
Wapda has recently released Rs510 million for the reconstruction of the Dubair-Ranowalia road.
