Residents give deadline for construction of Karimabad road
CHITRAL, Jan 11: A protest public meeting was held at the polo ground of the Sosum village (Karimabad) under the chairmanship of Syed Jamat Shah.
Addressing the gathering, the speakers said since the creation of Pakistan no developmental project had been launched in this scenic valley inhabited by more than 14,000 people. They said there was no higher secondary school or college for boys or girls, no Basic Health Unit, no utility store and other facilities. They said Hasanabad Bridge was damaged by floods in 2010 but it had not been reconstructed even after five years.
They said the main road of Sosum and Karimabad valley was in a very dilapidated condition and it took over three hours to travel on this 25 kilometers road because of the big ditches and blind turns. More than 11 lives were lost due to accidents on the road. The area is still deprived of electricity in this modern era of information technology. A micro-hydropower house has been built by the local people that too supplied low voltage electricity to the residents.
The speakers said Member National Assembly Iftikhar Uddin and MPA Salim Khan had announced over a year ago that the road had been handed over to the C&W department but still the reconstruction of the road had not been started.
They said due to the unavailability of healthcare facilities people of the valley were forced to carry patients, including women, on their back to take them to hospitals and sometimes they died before reaching the hospitals.
They given the deadline of February 1 to the government and said if the construction of the Hassanabad bridge and Sosum road was not started by Feb 1, they would take to the streets. Muhammad Yaqub, Sultan Shah, Syed Niyat Shah, Panah Kham and Syd Mazhar Hussain spoke on the occasion.
I, from the bottom of my heart, thank Mr. Gul Hammad Farooqui for his timely and correct report on Susoom protest. I’m also thankful to ‘Chitral Today’ for honest representation of Chitral.