Booni-Shandur-Yarkhun road

Residents protest against non-allocation of funds

By Our correspondent

CHITRAL: The residents here staged a sit-in on the second consecutive on Tuesday to protest non-allocation of funds for the Booni-Shandur-Yarkhun road.

A large number of residents from various villages as well as Yarkhun and Laspur valleys gathered at the bridge in Mastuj to stage the sit-in.

The construction of the Booni-Shandur Road had been a longstanding demand of the people of Chitral since long. The then president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf had announced Rs100 million for the construction of road project.

However, the funds were allegedly embezzled and the road couldn’t be built. And the road is in a dilapidated condition, causing many deadly road accidents.

Meanwhile, Additional Commissioner Upper Chitral Adnan held talks with the protesters and assured them to take up the issue with the quarters concerned.

The protesters agreed to postpone their protest till June 30 after talks with the officials. “Ours is a peaceful protest for a genuine cause. We want this longstanding demand of the people addressed as the successive governments ignored it on one pretext or the other,” said Qazi Ihtishamuddin, a local elder.

Noor Ajam Noorani, a village council nazim, said that the people of the area were fed up with the situation. “This important road has become perilous.

The Shandur festival is also approaching but no steps are being taken to build it. We want that funds must be allocated for it on an emergency basis,” he added.