Govt given Oct 1 deadline to start work on airport road

CHITRAL: After locals repaired a road in Booni on self help basis, people of villages near Chitral town on Monday held a protest and gave the government Oct 1 deadline to start work on the Chew bridge to Balach portion of Garam Chashma road.

The road in Booni was repaired on Sept 14 by local people after the government did not move to repair it.

At a protest gathering attended by people from Balach, Singoor, Seenlasht as well as students of Chitral University severely criticized the government for ignoring the most important road which serve their areas.

They said the PTI government was making tall claims of promoting tourism but could not even repair the road up to the Chitral airport. If the situation is so pathetic in the town area what would be the condition of roads and other infrastructure in remote parts of Chitral, they wondered.

The protesters were carrying placards and banners and chanting slogans against the government as well as the current and former elected representatives of Chitral.

The protesters said during the last 16 years the road was neither expanded nor even repaired while traffic was increasing.

They said an amount of 110.90 million had been sanctioned for the beautification of the three km long road but nobody knew where the amount as being spent. They said the DC Chitral  should explain how much amount had been provided and when it would be spent on the reconstruction of the road.

They said if the government failed to give a timeframe for the construction of the road by Oct 1, the residents would launch a road blockade and lockdown campaign.

Meanwhile, MNA Molana Abdul Akbar in a statement said he met with chairman of the NHA to discuss the construction of the road. The NHA chief told him that the Chitral-Garam Chashma road had not yet been handed over to the NHA and the MNA should approach the KP government for its construction.