The Bui Power Authority (BPA) has dismissed claims that they demolished the homes of squatters in the buffer zone due to bias.

“The demolition exercise in question was in accordance with the BPA policy of evicting unauthorised persons within the buffer zone around the Bui Reservoir to save the operations of the Bui Generating Station,” the Authority said in a statement.

The Bui Power Authority also dismissed claims by the Assemblyman for the area, Peter Dongi that the demolition was for a development including an ultramodern restaurant.

“We appreciate their plan to develop the community but they should show us a different area of land to resettle on,” Dongi claimed.

He said “that discussion was not conclusive only for them to raze our shelter and properties to the ground.”

Bui Power said they held “several meetings with this group of migrant-fisher folks with the sole aim of explaining the dangers they pose” to the facility and “why they had to vacate the area to the designated areas for fishing.”

The authority, however, said: “there have been no discussions whatsoever to resettle migrant fishermen on alternative land apart from these two designated areas. In effect, BPA is under no obligation to resettle unauthorized/illegal settlers when such encroached areas are retrieved.”

They added that they sympathize with the people but they have a responsibility to protect the facility.

“We pray such encroachment would not happen again,” the statement said.