Zupu bridge starts crumbling, road to Broghil closed

YARKHUN: Three beams of Zupu bridge have broken, cutting areas north of the village from rest of the country, local people told ChitralToday on phone.

File photo

It is the only bridge connecting areas north of Zupu with other parts of Chitral.

The bridge on the Chitral-Broghil road had been in a dilapidated condition and despite warning by the locals the government  could not repair it on a permanent basis.

The wooden bridge was constructed in 1993 and since then it was never repaired and due to lack of maintenance its planks were damaged. The bridge remained closed for weeks in 2017 till after which the C&W department repaired and reopened it for traffic.

People of Upper Yarkhun have been demanding that the the Zupu bridge and other bridges as well as the only road to the area should be reconstructed to facilitate the public.

The road to Broghi was shown as reconstructed at a cost of billions of rupees in 2013 but despite demands by the locals no inquiry was conducted into the alleged misuse of the funds.

There are hundreds of bridges connecting different valleys across Chitral and scores of them were damaged during floods in 2015 and later. But the government is yet to reconstruct these bridges and work on some of the is progressing at a snail’s pace.