Ventilating public demands
A.M. Khan
The people of Chitral think it an opportune time that their demands could (easily) ventilate into the assemblies, find a place in government’s agenda for consideration and robust implementation.
There has been public sit-ins and protests on multiple times for two important matters in Chitral. Locals either consider them as their rights or demands but these events were meant to bring them into government notice.
Roads and the provision of uninterrupted electricity supply have continued to be in public demand for a couple of years in Chitral. Recently people demanded for power supply without outages in lower Chitral, and it was in Torkhow and Mulkhow of upper Chitral last year. The sit-in at Reshun was put off day before yesterday.
The roads to valleys and sub-valleys of Chitral have been in public demand. After tunnelization of Lowari, the construction of road in Ashiret, and road to Chitral Town were demanded. So far, call for roads in upper Chitral are: district lower to upper Chitral, from Booni to Buzund road and to Mastuj, and Mastuj to Broghil valley road.
The construction work of road from lower to upper Chitral haphazardly started without any plan to consider public tribulations into consideration. More than a year passed it has remained miserable to travel after partway damaged metal surface was removed. The travel time increased with an additional unease of two hours with suffocating dust seeping into the vehicle (s), and floating in the air.
A day before, I travelled with a former school teacher. His view that public is intentionally being tortured in these roads was indigestible for me at least. It is true that every traveler (with few exceptions) faces daily unease and waste of time, and transporters accrue additional costs. Life is exposed to dust regularly, and it adds to environmental degradation. Thus, to many of travels it provides a practical experience and reason to discuss roads. This is how the discourse for improved road infrastructure and provision of other facilities evolves in Chitral.
The rate of glaciers’ melt has accelerated by 65percent as compared to previous decade, and few glacial regions show even ‘slow re-growth’, as reports say. In mountainous regions like ours snow and glaciers are closer, the dust particle pollution blown from this unpaved road system adds to the injury and the health of our ecosystem, let alone the people’s health. The particulate matter, depending on its size, floats in the air and travel from 30 miles to hundreds of miles.
Dust’s unwelcome effect is accelerating ice and snow melt. As it stirs up under the wheels of every running machine, it is ‘dusting snow’ and our glaciers, just like the way people here used dusting snow in fields and surrounding of their settlements after winter season.
The work on road construction started in upper Chitral sporadically after lower Chitral. The dilapidated unpaved roads have cost much to public, national purse and the health of the nature. The people of the Chitral deserve to have improved infrastructure facility for travel without unease and cost to human health. The uninterrupted green power supply at affordable price helps increase ‘green shields’ in this mountainous area, and reduce our emissions which accelerate environmental degradation and warming in the area.