Gul Hamad Farooqui
CHITRAL: The Public Health Engineering Department has started shifting the pipe supplying drinking water from Golen Gol to Chitral town from the middle of the under-construction Chitral-Mastuj road to the side.
The pipeline was laid to bring water form natural fountain of Golen in 2010. At that time the narrow Chitral-Mastuj road was the property of Communication and Works Department and the pipe was laid on the roadside in the hilly area.
After federalization, the road was handed over to National Highway Authority (NHA) of the federal government. Due to heavy traffic and increasing population, the NHA has started widening the road and the pipe left in the middle of the road.
The pipeline is supplying drinking water to more than 40,000 residents of Chitral town and nearby areas.
The Public Health Engineering Department estimated that Rs290 million would be required to move the pipe to a safer side and floated tender for it. Now work on the shifting has been started.