River washing away main road, important buildings in Chitral

CHITRAL, Aug 6: The water level in the Chitral river is continuously rising threatening a number of villages on its banks. In Chitral, the river is cutting the main road to Mastuj, Booni and Shandur, district jail, grain godown, the professional development centre of Aga Khan University, Denin officer colony, houses and hundreds of acres of land. The river has eroded the main road and reached near the main gate of the district jail. Superintendent of the jail Riaz Ahmad told this scribe that the river had cut the road and reached near the main compound wall and gate of the jail. The jail can be washed away any time if the river was not diverted, he added. Prominent lawyer Abdul Wali Advocate said that they had time and again requested teh communication and works (C&W) department for the construction of a protection bund and wall on the Denin side to divert the river but they did nothing. As a result, most parts of the main road is already damaged by the river. S. Fayaz, the district food controller, also expressed concern over the erosion of the main road threaneing the store of wheat on the river bank. He said that supply to the godown would start in September but due to erosion of road it would not be possible to supply the wheat to upper Chitral. A local land lord of Denin said that they had requested the district administration again and again for protection of their houses, property and cultivable land but nothing was done and as a result hundreds of acres land was damaged by the river. Local people expressed their fear that if the river was not diverting timely it might damage district jail, main grain store, officer colony, hundreds of houses and land. They demanded from the provincial government for construction of protection bund on emergency basis to save this precious property.–Gul Hamaad Farooqi]]>