River destroys link road, fertile land in Upper Chitral

BOONI: The gushing Yarkhun River destroyed the only link road between two villages and hundreds of acres of fertile land in Upper Chitral, the locals said on Wednesday.

“The river has not only destroyed our fertile land of hundreds of acres but also washed away the link road to Khuzh and Deewangul villages,” said Illahi Bakhsh Lal. He said the river had changed its course last year and had washed away their hundreds of acres of land and fruit orchards and trees.

“We had contacted the authorities concerned with a request to take measures to save our land and the only road linking the two villages with the rest of the district but no help was extended to us. We did try to build the protective embankment to save the area from destruction on a self-help basis but it couldn’t withstand it and the gushing waters started eroding fertile land and the road,” he said.

Illahi Bakhsh said that hundreds of students could not go to their schools due to the closure of the road. He appealed to the elected representatives and deputy commissioner to take prompt measures to repair the road and save their land from further destruction.