Bridge to usher in development in far-off villages

CHITRAL: The jeep-able bridge at Ishkarwarz of Broghil valley has led to connect about three-fourth area and population of this border valley with the rest of the country, opening avenues of progress and prosperity there.

Talking to reporters here, former nazim of Broghil village council, Amin Tajik, and others termed the bridge a ‘game changer’ for the hitherto backward valley.

Before the construction of the bridge two years ago by the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme under its Central Asia Poverty Programme, they said, five villages out of seven villages of Broghil valley were without road facility and lived in the primitive age.

Amin Tajik said that one had to travel on foot for twelve hours on foot from Ishkarwarz to the Lashkargaz village while it took additionally five hours to get to the famous Qurambar lake before the construction of the bridge.

He said that with the establishment of the crucial bridge, the era of development has started as government buildings started to be approved and constructed here as it was not possible to easily transport the materials to the area before it.

Muhammad Aziz of Garel village of the valley said that before the facility was put in place, the residents were unable to bring the patients and the injured to the hospitals who died without any proper treatment.

He said that Broghil was the paradise of eco- tourists with 35 bio active lakes and scores of glaciers and lush green meadows with rich biodiversity but it remained unexploited in the absence of road facility.