Protection wall construction sought in Dir

DIR: A mere 250-feet long protection wall can save dozens of houses of the Kalan Bala, Mohallah Bijligar here, which was badly affected by the 2022 devastating floods that had washed away almost all the houses of the locality.

Tajbar Khan, a former tehsil nazim from the area, made personal efforts and used his own resources to divert the direction of water. But this is not sufficient for withstanding the pressure of gushing water in case of even a low-level flood.

The previous floods caused losses worth hundreds of millions in this small locality only.The water washed away the fertile soil of the locality besides the houses of the local people.

The residents are resilient enough to rebuild their houses without any ones’ support. But they urgently need protection of their rebuilt houses and land. Tajbar Khan demanded the government as well as non-governmental local and international bodies to focus attention on this small locality, construct the protection wall and save the people from devastation in future.

A number of government bodies, local and international NGOs are busy in reconstruction and rehabilitation in the area.The Glacial Lake Outburst Project-II (GLOF-II) of UNDP, has also constructed a number of protection walls, safe-places, community centres and warning systems in the valley.

Tajbar Khan demanded the GLOF-II Project officials to pay attention to the pressing need of the Kalan Bala locality and construct the protection wall to rid the people of the perpetual mental stress.