Chitral admin hands in glove with land mafia?
More intriguingly, the land mafia has started the illegal construction after demolishing the remnants of a historical bridge built over 90 years ago.
During a visit to the site, the residents of the area and traders in the bazaar told ChitralToday that in 1923 a suspension bridge was built by the British government of India over the local steam. The famous Attaliq bridge was later built on one side of the bridge while on the other side a new bridge was constructed under the Chitral bypass road project a few years ago. However, the pillars and plaque of the British era bridge were still visible at the site, reminiscing the residents of the old passageway.
Strangely, however, over two weeks ago, Akbar Hussain alias Toti, a resident of Goldur, demolished the remnants of the old bridge on both sides of the stream and started building shops on the state land without any check by the department concerned. 
The area people expressed their surprise why none of the departments concerned, including the revenue department, communication and work department or the district administration, have taken notice of the illegal activity so far.
Talking to ChitralToday, Mr Rehmat, an old resident of the area, said he was very shocked to see the old bridge gone. He said the bridge was our cultural and historical asset and its demolition in the hands of the land mafia was condemnable. He said without the connivance of the government departments it would not be possible for anyone to first dismantle such a historical bridge and then start constructing shops on the state land.
When this correspondent contacted the executive engineer of the C&W department, Maqbool Azam, he expressed his ignorance about the construction of the shops on the state land. However, he said the construction of the shops was an encroachment on the state land. Mr Azam said it was the responsibility of the revenue department to get the land retrieved from the encroachers.
The builder of the illegal shops, who was present at the site, claimed that he had bought the land but he could not produce any deed nor named the seller of the property.
People here called upon the government to immediately probe the matter and take action against the builder and officials concerned for their negligence in protecting the state land.
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This is a test for the newly posted deputy commissioner Chitral. Osama Waraich is known for his tough stance against the land mafias as ADC, Peshawar. Some years back these minarets of a Shahi Mosque Chitral were blasted by a contractor. Now, the same mafia is working in the same pattern, which is not possible without support of the local administration. It is requested that the new DC should tightened the noose around the bunch of AACs, who have proved to be good for nothing. I would rather suggest that these AACs should be posted out as they have spent enough time. The officials who remain at the one station for so long often resort to such kind of things. The time has come that new people should be called in and old officials including the additional deputy commissioner should be immediately posted out. We are looking forward to you Mr. Waraich that what action you will take against these land mafias and those officials of the district administration who have given deaf ear to these issues.