Laspur ignored amid ravages of floods & rains

HARCHIN (LASPUR): People in this isolated valley of Upper Chitral feel let-down and neglected after government departments and private organizations ignored them amid ravages caused by recent floods and rains to their properties such as farmlands, houses and crops.   

Village council chairmen and members, including Sher Azam Khan, Muhammad Wazir Khan and Dil Aman Shah, told ChitralToday correspondent that people of Laspur had always rendered sacrifices and helped others in difficult times but when they themselves were in a crisis no government department or private organization bothered even to listen to their grievances.

The unprecedented heavy and prolonged rains not only triggered flooding in nullahs and streams but also damaged crops, orchards and houses. Moreover, water supply lines for both drinking and irrigation purposes were washed away in almost all the villages. If the supply of drinking water was not restored on a priority basis, local population can face a number of diseases by consuming dirty water, the elected members of the local government feared.

Moreover, all houses have been damaged and developed cracks due to the rains and can collapse during the winter snowfall or rains endangering the lives of the inhabitants.

People of Laspur, like in other parts of Chitral, depend on subsistence agriculture to meet their domestic need of food requirements, but the rains this year destroyed or damaged their crops, creating the possibility of a shortage of wheat and other commodities.

Besides, destruction of roads and bridges has cut off people of different villages from each other. The road between Gasht and Harchin is still blocked and schoolchildren of Gasht have no other option but to take a long detour via Shaidas to reach their schools in Harchin.

They said during a visit to Laspur, chief minister’s special assistant Wazirzada had promised a development package worth about Rs50 million for the area along with Rs3 million for each village council chairman; however, so far no progress has been seen on it.

They called upon the government and all welfare organizations to take notice of the issues being faced by people of Laspur in order to resolve them before any untoward situation.