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Torkhow people end sit-in over Istaru bridge: DC

Torkhow people end sit-in over Istaru bridge: DC

BOONI: The people of Torkhow on Saturday ended their protest sit-in staged in Shagram for over a week on the assurance of the district administration that the alternative road to their area would be widened and repaired on an emergency basis.

A statement issued by the office of the deputy commissioner Upper Chitral said that on the direction of DC Shah Saud, additional assistant commissioner (AAC) Mastuj Shah Adnan along with official of the communication and works (C&W) department visited the protest site and held talks with the sit-in participants.

“After successful negotiations on arrangement of a bridge and repair and widening of the alternative road being used by commuters since the collapse of the Istaru bridge, the protesters agreed to end their sit-in,” it said.

On the direction of AAC Shah Adnan, the SDO of the C&W department and the tehsildar Mastuj started a survey of the old road being used as an alternative for its immediate repair and widening.

The AAC told the local people that the reconstruction of the bridge on an emergency basis along with the repair and widening of the old road would be completed on a priority basis and in this regard the district administration was in contact with the provincial government. 

The area of Torkhow and Terich remained partially cut off from rest of Chitral after a bridge over a stream in Istaru collapsed killing a Datsun driver early in 2020. 

The area people have been using an old dirty track as an alternative road but this track would be closed if there is a snowfall.

Despite repeated appeals, the government failed to repair the bridge or install a steel bridge, leading to a public protest and the sit-in.

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