RESHUN: A week after Upper Chitral was cut off following the erosion of a portion of the Chitral- Mastuj road by the Yarkhun river at Reshun, construction of an alternative road was carried out in the village to restore traffic on Saturday.
The river washed away the original road along with private land and houses in Shader area of Reshun last year after which an alternative road was arranged through agricultural land of the people of the locality.
As the government failed to protect the village, the river flooded again this year and eroded more land and scores of houses along with the portion of the road a week ago, cutting off links to Upper Chitral.
Ironically, after using private land for the road, the government did not pay the owners any compensation even after a year.
As a result, the locals were hesitant to allow the government to use more land this year.
However, sources in Reshun told ChitralToday that the district administration of Upper Chitral reached an agreement with the landowners after which work on the alternative road was started.
Under the agreement, compensation for the land used for the road and eroded by the river would be paid to the affected people in 10 days.
Moreover, the displaced people of Reshun would be rehabilitated in some other area and work on the construction of a protection wall would be started as soon as possible to check further river erosion in the area.–Sher Afgan Raza