BOONI: The river blocked by falling debris during construction of the Shandur road by NHA has started eroding Booni as its volume increased.
Despite repeated appeals and protests and even a court order, the NHA neither followed environment safety laws nor removed the debris and rocks that have fallen into the river at the narrow passageway in front of Booni.
In September 2023, one person was injured and scores of houses were damaged when large pieces of rocks showered in Booni Lasht village from blasting of a mountain by National Highway Authority across the river during the construction of Chitral-Mastuj road.
Residents of Booni, including political activists and traders, on Saturday morning held a protest and announced to block the Chitral-Mastuj road from Sunday (tomorrow).
Speaking on the occasion, Fazlur Rehman, Muhammad Pervez Lal, Mola Nigah, Zafarullah Parwaz and others said that Booni was at the risk of destruction from river erosion only because of the negligence and apathy of the NHA.
They said the authority openly violated environment safety laws and carried out blasting of the mountain carelessly. Despite promises, it never took any step to remove the debris from the river and as a result the the rock pieces and debris have blocked the narrow river passageway in front of Booni leading to erosion of land in the town.
The NHA has also been involved in careless and unsafe blasting of mountains in Lower Chitral and dumping boulders into the river. Moreover, civil society activists have pointed out substandard work on the multi-billion rupees Chitral-Shandur road project.
The protesters in Booni said the NHA was constructing the Chitral-Shandur road without any measures for safety of public and private properties and government departments concerned seemed silent spectators to its recklessness. They said the local people would block the Chitral-Mastuj road from Sunday if immediate steps were not taken to remove the debris from the river and clear its passageway to protect Booni from further erosion.
