CHITRAL: An important meeting of hundreds of people of Union Council Koh, was held at Safdar house Morilasht village. The elders of the area demanded the construction of Boni Chitral road, supply of electricity and distribution of free flour of Ramadan package to the residents of the area. The elders warned the government that if their genuine demands were not fulfill within three days they will be compelled to take the stern step. According to details, an important meeting of the elders of Union Council Koh, a suburb area of Chitral, was held in Mori Lasht which was presided over by Sharif Hussain Chairman. The meeting was attended by representatives of all political and religious parties, elected councilors, Nazims, chairmen and social workers who also participated in the meeting. Expressing their concern at the meeting, Haji Safdar Ali Akash and other speakers said that construction work had started on Boni Chitral road but the work has stopped now and this road presents a scene of ruins. They said that the National Highway Authority (NHA) also removed the blacktopping (coal tar) from this road which was constructed by a Chinese construction company 38 years ago and it was very strong coal tar but after that road was left incomplete. They said that the contractor of NHA removed the strong coal tar (blacktopping) even from such a part of the road where they did not do any work on the road i.e. no opening, no paving, no protective wall or expansion but the contractor removed the coal tar only to collect money.
The speakers said that a 108-megawatt hydropower plant has been constructed in Golain with a cost of billions of rupees, but its survey was wrong at that time and after construction it was revealed that this power plant can only generate 15 megawatts of electricity. They said that the area in its neighbourhood is plunged in darkness. They said that the free flour in Ramadan from the Prime Minister has not yet distributed at this area. A three-point resolution was also unanimously passed in the meeting demanding the government to immediately start the construction work on the Booni-Chitral road, to provide electricity to the Koh area from Golain Power Station and on behalf of the Prime Minister. In Ramadan, free flour should also be given to the residents of this area.
The people of the area while talking to our correspondent said that due to the dirt and dust on this road, not only the passers-by but the people living near the road are also suffering from various diseases.
In the meeting, the authorities were given a deadline of three days and warned that if their genuine demands were not fulfilled within three days, they will be compelled to take stern action, including blocking the Booni Mastoj road, suspending the electricity supply and stopping the delivery of goods to upper Chitral. The meeting ended with prayerful words.
By Gul Hamaad Farooqi.
