Benazir’s gifts rotting in Chitral villages

CHITRAL, May 31: Though Chitral has the potential to generate electricity for whole country, most parts of the valley are still deprived of this basic facility of life in the 21st century. 

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 1995 wanted to provide electricity to the people of Chitral and as a short-term measure gifted diesel generators for electrification of major villages.

The generators were purchased for millions of rupees and shifted to Chitral to establish grid stations in Mastuj, Shahgram, Brep, Garam Chashma and other areas. Land was acquired, buildings were constructed for the grid stations of the diesel generators but contractors who built the buildings left the project midway and even did not fix the doors and windows.

Watchmen were also appointed in these buildings. A resident of Shagram told ChitralToday that he was recruited as a watchman 23 years ago but neither the building was completed nor the grid station started working. He said the generators were becoming scrap and damaged even some people had taken away their parts and using them in their own generators.

He also said the administration had promised him to pay his 23 years’ salary and allowed him to use the land set aside for the grid station for cultivation purposes as compensation of his service. In Mastuj, the diesel generator is kept in front of the police station but the Mastuj police station. In Brep, a resident said the land had been purchased from him at a throwaway price and he was promised that he would be given job.

But afterwards, nothing happened and the generator is rusting at a petrol pump. The residents of the areas demanded that the government should provide funds so that these costly generators could be utilized for electricity generation.