Pandemic restricts movement of Chitrali labourers
CHITRAL: The Covid-19 pandemic has keept both skilled and unskilled labourers of Chitral from going to southern districts of the country to seek jobs.
Retired Prof Shamsun Nizar Fatimi told this correspondent that the pandemic had already unleashed a string of factors to restrict sources of income in Chitral thereby triggering poverty.
He said tourism sector remained dormant during the summer season and this year thousands of labourers had been rendered jobless during winter.
He said the fear of lockdown was forcing them to stay at home.
Mr Fatimi said as per a social survey done by an NGO a decade ago almost 70 per cent of the surveyed households in Chitral had one of their male members working in down country for earning livelihood for their families, while in over 30 per cent cases they were the sole breadwinners.
The labourers usually leave their villages in October or early November and return by end of May next year with enough money to meet expenses of their families for the next few months.
In the job market, Chitralis are given preference for working in shops and in construction industry for their sound physique and stamina to work for extended hours.
Prof Fatimi feared that poverty would increase in Chitral over the next one year due to skyrocketing prices of essential commodities and unemployment of daily wagers.