MASTUJ: The protest sit-in at Mastuj bridge by people of Mastuj, Laspur and Yarkhun demanding construction of roads to their areas was on Monday afternoon called off after government assurance that work on the roads would be started in September this year.
The assurance was extended on behalf of the government by PTI minority MPA Wazirzada who visited the protest camp accompanied by ADC Upper Chitral Muhammad Irfanuddin.
The MPA told the protesters that the PTI government created the separate district of Upper Chitral and would construct the Booni to Mastuj, Yarkhun and Shandur road on a priority basis.
He said an amount of Rs1 billion had already been approved for the Shandur road and work on the project would start in September this year. About 16.75 billion rupees would be spent on the construction of the roads in Upper Chitral, he added.
The MPA said he had come to convey the message of the chief minister that the PTI would fulfil all the demands of the people. The MPA also asked the people to form a committee comprising representatives from Mastuj, Laspur, Yarkhun and Parwak etc., so that he could arrange their meeting with the federal minister for communications Murd Saeed to discuss all communication-related issues of Upper Chitral.
The protest by the people of the union councils of Mastuj, Laspur and Yarkhun was started on June 24 and was suspended on June 25 for five days. On June 30, the sit-in was restarted after there was no response from the government side.