Tourists throng scenic Kalam Valley on Eidul Fitr

MINGORA: Thousands of tourists from all corners of the country thronged the scenic Kalam valley recently to enjoy the Eid holidays in the mountainous region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Kalam, situated 100 kilometres to the north of Mingora city, is a centre of attraction for its scenic forests and lakes. It is a preferred choice for tourists to spend maximum time of the summer vacations in this naturally gifted piece of land.

In the summer, it offers a pleasant view as there is greenery all around while in the winter the snowy mountains and frozen lakes present a breathtaking view. "I reached here along with my family a week ago to enjoy Eid holidays," said Hina Akbar, who hails from Lahore.

She said they came with a plan to spend five days, adding after seeing the natural beauty of the Kalam valley, they wanted to spend more time as the weather and scenery was so attractive and environment serene.

Many of the tourists, however, complained of the road's condition and told The News that the 35 kilometres-long road from Bahrain to Kalam needed to be built on a war-footing basis. It has been under construction for a long time.

They said the state's focus on the infrastructural development of Kalam can boost tourism in the area. "This is a paradise on earth, but the dilapidated condition of the road from Bahrain to Kalam made the journey tiresome for us," said Dr Islamuddin, a tourist from Islamabad. He added that despite the tall claims of both provincial and federal government, this area has been neglected in the past two decades.

"Though we have faced a lot of trouble due to the bad condition of the road, after reaching Kalam valley, we are now relaxed," said Muhammad Ali, a tourist from Sialkot. He said it was unbelievable for him to know that Kalam is the only valley where there is zero-hour loadshedding. He added that where the rest of the country is facing power outage and loadshedding, the people and tourists were enjoying un-interrupted electricity in Kalam valley.

This electricity is being supplied to the entire Kalam valley both in the winter and summer from two hydropower stations, built by Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) under the European Union-funded Peace project. This not only fulfils the need of the locals but the tourists are also getting the facility round-the-clock.

"The people of the Kalam valley are grateful to the SRSP for these projects which have contributed to the uplift of the socio-economic lives of the people of the area," said Habibullah, Nazim, Bahrain tehsil. He added apart from the household, it has benefitted the hotel industry and shops in the area.

A local resident and General Secretary, Kalam Hotels Association, Rahmat Din Siddiqui, said the electricity lines were washed away by a severe flood in 2010, and the local people faced severe problems till the SRSP launched the hydropower generation.

The SRSP official said the public-private partnership led to the establishment of the 400 kilowatts micro-hydropower station in the Jungle Inn area and the 1.2MW power station in Ashuran.

The residents termed it a remarkable achievement and hoped it would help boost tourism as tourists used to face a host of problems due to non-availability of electricity in the past. The charges for the locals in Kalam are only Rs3 per unit and the commercial charges are only Rs 7 per unit.