Residents demand road construction in Dir

DIR: The residents on Sunday urged the authorities to reconstruct the dilapidated main road in Gawaldi Dara, an area of the remote Kohistan valley.

“The bumpy road has multiplied the miseries of local people as it has been in the worst condition for more than a decade and the elected representatives from the constituency have turned a blind eye to the issue,” said Shahwazir Khan, a resident of Kissankhail.

He said the road was the only source of travel for more than 30,000 population of the Gawaldi. The resident said that safety walls at several points of the road were broken that posed a serious threat to the lives of the people in case of accident.

Ibrahim Khan, a resident of Sundrai, said that the elected representatives from Kohistan constituency had ignored their demand to repair the road. He said the 17-kilometre long Gawaldi road was in a shambles, but the lawmakers from the area failed to honour the pledges to have it repaired.

Gawaldi Awami Tehrik head Shah Nawaz Khan said that the contract of the road construction was once tendered in 2009, but the contractor left the work incomplete. Haji Sultan Muhammad, tehsil councillor Anar Gul and others also made similar demand and urged Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to look into the matter and issue orders for the repair of Gawaldi road. They threatened to launch a protest drive if construction work on the road was not started forthwith.