Kuragh Gol repaired, Chitral-Mastuj road still closed
Photo of broken road at Reshun taken by Abdul Samad (Booni).[/caption]
The road has been damaged at different points due to flooding in nullahs and avalanches after torrential rain on Monday. The rain/flood also washed away about 100 metres of the road near Reshun which is yet to be repaired.
Since the blockade of the road, people of upper Chitral are facing lots of hardship, as many of them were stranded between villages after the rain and flood struck.
Maqbool Ahmed, a resident of Charun, told ChitralToday at Kuragh on Tuesday afternnon that he left the Chitral town for his home at 1pm on Monday and stranded after the road was closed. He said he and other passengers had to travel on foot most of the time and reached Reshun late in the night. On Tuesday morning, he started his journey towards his village on foot and was yet to reach the destination.
A large number of people, including students and office-goers, were also seen walking towards their institutions and workplaces on Tuesday morning as there was no transport.
An ambulance carrying a patient from Chitral side also remained stuck at Kuragh Gol early in the morning. The patient was later shifted to the other side by other passengers.
The people of upper Chitral demanded that the government should expedite work on the repair of the damaged road to restore traffic on an emergency basis. They also said heavy machinery should be kept at a standby to keep the the road open round the clock.]]>
Our system is like a paralyzed body, whose nervous system is totally damaged or breakdown. Look for example of the damaged to Chitral Booni road in Chitral near district Jail and in Greenlasht. It was common observation from the last 5 years that Chitral River was buzy in cutting of the the land in these two places and result was known to everyone. Despite the demand of local community from time to time to construct protection wall in order to protect their valuable properties, no one could hear their voices…how they hear? They were deaf and paralyzed. They were not willing to construct a protection wall in 10 or 20 lac but they will be ready to rehabilitate it for 3 or 4 crore. This is the harsh reality. Our system is outdated, unresponsive and irrelevant and those who are running it are ignorant.
me not into politics at all and am no spokesman of anyone. You sound like one and dragging it into politics. Have any word of my comment is political or favouring anyone.
Imtiaz sb, you are living in fools paradise. We should be aware of our weaknesses and resources. We do not have the means of controlling all this calamities. You talk of Chitral, even in Islamabad there is 7 hours load shedding.
We would be fools to expect that the government whether local, provincial or federal will be able to fix our issues that quickly. The bridges that are gone were the work of 35 years and they cannot realistically be erected in two months. Only the compensation of dead people took more than two months. It is the process and the systems that have to be changed.
Obaid Ullah sb, you may put it the other way round. I live in a fool’s wonderland where people like you are the boss. leave the reconstruction of bridges aside, tell me any small work that has been done for the flood affected people so far. your CM Khattak promised free of cost seeds for farmers and there was a survey but now the wheat sowing season is over and the farmers couldn’t get it. Do we need years to fulfil such a small promise. If you are unable to do anything, do not try to mislead people and become a spokesman for politicians.
Very tricky situation, don’t know why there is no system to clear small debris from road. Even after the disasters in July/August the departments concerned remain as non committed as they used to be in the past. There is no staff to look after the road. After leaders have failed to meet people’s expectations in hours of need. Where are govt departments, people are confronted with crisis after crisis but no one is there to listen to them.