Rains block roads in Chitral, upper areas receive snowfall

CHITRAL: Torrential rains lashed Chitral on Tuesday morning which continued till the evening while remote areas in Upper Chitral received snowfall. The rains blocked a number of roads in the valley and cut off Chitral’s links with other parts of the country.

The main Chitral-Peshawar road was blocked at Ashiret and Chumarkhan while the Chitral-Mastuj road was blocked at Mroi. the rains also caused rock-fall on almost all roads in different sub-valleys. Rescue 1122 removed the boulders from the road by using an excavator at Chumarkhan and restored traffic.

Upper Chitral also received torrential rains snowfall but there was non report about blockades of roads.

According to reports, Yarkhun Lasht received three and Shoosht two inch of snow. Terich and other areas also received snowfall.

During the rains, land sliding occurred at Chumarkhan in lower Chitral due to which the houses of Mujtaba and his brother Shamsul Haq were damaged but the family remained safe.

There were also reports about floods in Shishikoh, Biori, Golen, Garam Chashma, Zait and Reshun.

The rains and flooding in nullahs and rivers further ruined the already broken roads across Chitral and the district administration did not bother to move and repair the roads on the excuse of the coronavirus lockdown.

The most frequently used roads such as Chitral-Peshawar and Chitra-Mastuj were already in poor condition due to lack of maintenance for years and now the rains and flooding in streams have further deteriorated its condition.

With the lockdown and fear of the pandemic for about a month, people of Chitral especially the working class people are in deep financial and psychological trouble and the floods and rains have added to their miseries.

A number of mega projects to reconstruct the main roads such as Chitral-Mastuj, Garam Chashma and Kalash valley roads could not be launched due to non-release of funds by the PTI government for years. On the other hand, the government departments concerned have abandoned their repair and maintenance creating lots of hardship for the commuters.

Moreover, for years, floods and other natural calamities such as earthquakes have brought destruction to the haggard roads in Chitral along with public and private properties but the government failed to repair and rehabilitate them so far.