Chitral town residents look to ANP leader to end their hardships

The two bridges were the main sources of communication for the 10,000 residents of Chitral as these linked the town areas located on either side of the Chitral Gol with each other.

The demands and protests of local people against the government\’s failure to reconstruct the infrastructure damaged in the twin natural calamities of floods and earthquake of 2015 across the valley of Chiral have fallen on deaf ears. According to different reports, not even 2pc of the damaged roads, bridges, schools and other infrastructure have been repaired so far in the district. As former chief minister of KP, Amir Haider Khan Hoti, is expected to visit Chitral soon, some circles in the Chitral town are of the view that he must be taken around the flood and quake-devastated areas so that as the key opposition leader he can highlight the issues in the mainstream media besides taking it up with the authorities concerned, including the NDMA, PDMA etc. It is ironic that the two damaged bridges on Chitral Gol have not been repaired due to which the residents of the town are facing innumerable hardship and troubles on a daily basis. One of the damaged bridges is located right in front of the DC office while the other is near the Govt High School for Girls. A man from the down country has installed a chairlift in place of one of the damaged bridges and is charging Rs10 from each traveler, including schoolchildren. While at the site of the other bridge, the commuters have to use stairs to descend into the surface of the nullah and come up to the other side on foot. Had the government been serious towards the public issue, it could have rebuild both the bridges at a cost of less than a million of rupees but it seems that there is no one who can damn care about the suffering of the citizens.—(Bashir Hussain Azad)]]>