No basic amenities yet for far-off Chitral village

CHITRAL: A far-off village in the Upper Chitral district lacks basic facilities and the residents are faced with great hardships due to negligence on the part of the government.

The residents of the Deuser village complained that they were faced with a host of problems, including dilapidated roads, crumbling bridges on seasonal streams, non-existence of a healthcare and education system in their area.

They said the successive governments had ignored them after getting votes from them during elections for national and provincial assemblies as well as local governments.

The roads and bridges were in such rundown condition that they could not send their children to schools for fear of any untoward incident to them.

The residents, they added, were confronted with great hardships while shifting the patients and injured, particularly women, to hospitals in case of emergencies.

The elders appealed to the district administration and provincial government, including Special Assistant to Chief Minister Wazir Zada, and Member Provincial Assembly Hidayatur Rahman to take notice of their plights and take practical steps for improving the infrastructure to facilitate the residents in the remote village.

Meanwhile, the residents have started building a link bridge on a self-help basis.

“We have been cut off from the rest of the district and had no other option but to build a pedestrian bridge on a self-help basis,” said Hafas Ali, a local resident.

Wazir Panah, another local activist, urged the government to build a jeepable bridge for the area.