Boroghil road: MPA-backed contractors accused of embezzling funds
CHITRAL, Dec 16: Though the government has said it constructed the Boroghil road at a cost of over 150 million rupees, the residents of the far-off valley have been complaining that two contractors backed by MPA Ghulam Muhammad embezzled the amount and did nothing to improve the road.
On Monday, representative of the people from Boroghil at a press conference in Chitral urged the prime minister and KPK chief minister to order an inquiry into the large scale bungling committed by the contractors through NAB. They said the area people were still without a road facility.
Those who spoke at the conference included president Chiantar Welfare Organization Boroghil Umar Rafi and Sher Hassan. They said the residents of the valley still had to walk on foot for three days to reach Yarkhun Lusht to catch a vehicle to down areas.
They named one Faizur Rahman of Booni and Mohammad Dawood of Ayun as the contractors of the road who, they said, were supported by MPA Haji Ghulam Mohammad. When the work on the construction of the road started in October 2012, the residents were very happy but it proved to be mirage as the road is still incomplete while payment has been made to the contractors, they said.
They said that the contractors only cleared the debris from the road constructed by two different organizations – Chitral Area Development Project and Aga Khan Rural Support Programme from Zhupu of Yarkhun Lasht. The length of the road newly constructed by the contractors was only 10 kilometers and that was too substandard and the jeepable suspension bridge was too narrow to allow the passage of jeep without being unloaded, they said.
They added that the contractors did not touch the narrow mountainous tracks located at Nakhchiro Zom, Shost, Rawak and Arqaoon while a large part of the road will be washed away by the river in the summer season. They reiterated that during the summer season with the rise in the level of Yarkhun river, no vehicular traffic will be possible from Yarkhun Lasht onward situated at a distance of 90 kilometres from Boroghil.–Zahiruddin
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My advice to my dear Wokhy brothers of Boroghil, especially their so-called spokesmen, is be patient and stop shouting over corruption. Whatever has been done for you is more than enough compared to other areas of Chitral. Look at the portion of the Chitral-Mastuj road near Zait which remained unrepaired for years after being washed away by floods. It is your good luck that an army general after visiting Boroghil took up the road issue with federal government to ensure smooth communication with the army posts at the border areas. This was purely army initiated project and if there is any corruption you should approach the army authorities. Recently, the corps commander Peshawar inaugurated the road at Mastuj and also visited your area, where were you, why you did not take up the matter with him. Do not try to become Ana Hazare by levelling allegations against everyone and be thankful to the government and the army for spending so much money on that useless road when people in other areas of Chitral, especially in Torkhow valleys, are still without proper road networks.