Public gathering demands Brep as new tehsil headquarters

BREP: At a public gathering here on Sunday, people from Brep, Dewangol, Istach, Dizg, Khruzg and Mahting demanded provision of basic facilities such as healthcare and road connectivity which their area lacks even after the establishment of the new district of Upper Chitral.

Speakers at the gathering chaired by Muhammad Saeed Khan Lal of Dewangol regretted that even after Upper Chitral was declared a new district, there has been no visible change in the basic facilities.

They said there was only one basic health unit (BHU) in Brep which served people up to the Broghil valley. But the BHU is without a doctor and medicines and being looked after by a technician, ChitralToday reported.

They said a few weeks ago a notable of Pavur was brought to the BHU with the complaint of diarrhoea but due to lack of basic medicine and absence of a doctor he passed away while being shifted to Mastuj.

They demanded that a permanent doctor should be appointed for the BHU along with the supply of sufficient medicines. The government should also open new healthcare centres in Yarkhun valley.

The speakers also demanded establishment of Brep as the new tehsil headquarters in the district of Upper Chitral.

They said wheat was not being supplied to the godown in Brep and sale points in other villages which would create a severe shortage of wheat in the area.

There has also been a longstanding issue of non-repair of the road to the area and despite promises the government has failed to initiate work on the Mastuj and Yarkhun roads, they regretted.

Though there was no consensus, some of the participants of the gathering demanded that the government should build a bypass road from Mastuj-Ghoru to Istach side as the areas on the left bank of the river Yarkhun get cut off due to flooding in streams in the summers.

The speakers assailed successive government for not providing power from Reshun powerhouse to the area even though it was set up in exchange for the locals’ decision to stop cultivating charas. They asked the government to extend the transmission line from Reshun to Yarkhun otherwise they would restart cultivating charas from next year.

Those who spoke on the occasion included Muhammad Saeed Khan Lal, Mir Rahim Khan, Muhammad Hazar, Zulfiqar Ali, Farman Nizar, Noor Zaman, Sher Muhammad, Afsar Haji, Syed Ahmed Hussain Shah, Vor Muhammad, Mir Ajab Charvelu and Shahzda Akber.

Published in ChitralToday on Sept 29, 2019.