Poor condition of Chitral roads lamented

CHITRAL: Chairman of the Chitral Economic Forum and senior economist, Prof Syed Toufiq Jan, has lamented the apathy of successive governments towards the worst condition of roads in the two districts of Chitral.

Speaking at a meeting on Thursday, he said Chitral was the first princely state to join Pakistan in 1947 at the time of independence but our central and provincial governments failed to address the basic needs of people in Chitral during the last 74 years.

He lamented that our close neighbour Upper Dir has 8,000 kilometres of metalled roads whereas the two districts of Chitral covering 14,850 sq KM area have only 185 kilometres of metalled roads.

“Each government never gets tired of boasting of promoting Chitral as a tourist hub but no attention has been paid towards the dilapidated condition of narrow and Shingle roads connecting 32 valleys of Chitral with the rest of the country.

The senior economist pointed out that Kalash valleys, Garum Chashma and Shandur are among the spots for tourist attraction but none of these places is accessible through metalled roads while the government machinery is busy in rhetoric of economic zone, marble city and tourist hub.

He said Lower Chitral and Upper Chitral Upper districts make up for a large area of KP, therefore, these should be allocated resources accordingly in every budget.