GH Farooqui
CHITRAL: Work on a bridge to connect Khuz and Dewangol villages on the right side of river Yarkhun in Upper Chitral has been stopped and residents, especially students, are compelled to travel on foot and cross the river to connect other areas, a visit to the site by Chitral Today correspondent showed.
The main road to Yarkhun passes through Kargin and Brep side on the left side of the river, leaving Khuz lower, Khuz upper and Dewangol, consisting of over 300 houses, almost cut off round the year.
There are two pedestrian bridges. The one is hanging pedestrian bridge in front of Khuz that is perhaps the longest in the whole area and usually called by local people as Pule Siraat. The other is located at about four km to the north of Dewangol in front of upper Brep.
People of the area held a number of protest gathering and regretted that even in the 21st century Khuz and Dewangol remained cut-off as there is neither any jeep-able bridge nor a road.
On their campaign led by young social activist Karam Ali Saadi, the KP government approved the construction of a jeepable bridge in front of Dewangol and Brep. The government invited bids in January 2022 for the construction of the bridge to connect Khuz and Dewangol villages on the right bank of River Yarkhun at a cost of Rs26 million.
Later, the government released Rs26 million after which work on the bridge was started. However, after the departure of the PTI government in KP, the project was halted on July 5, 2023.
The residents called upon the government to release the remaining funds in order to continue work on the public welfare project.