ISLAMABAD: Regarding the possibility to open the Lowari tunnel for the public soon after its completion this year, the National Highway Authority has issued the following statement:
We would like to take this opportunity to apprise the people of the actual status of the project and the timeframe of its formal opening.
The excavation work on the Lowari tunnel is expected to be completed this winter. However, once the excavation is completed, the tunnel will remain under close technical observation for a certain period of time in order to ensure that there is no deformation or overstressing in the rocks. Also, once the excavation is completed, a host of civil works involving movement of heavy machinery will need to be carried out inside the tunnel.
The tunnel has to be completed in all respects and declared absolutely safe by engineers before opening it for public use. At present, work is proceeding as planned and the tunnel is expected to formally open by the end of 2010.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Khowar-Urdu dictionary launched
Report Zahiruddin, Chitral
Speakers at a ceremony held here on Sunday said that Khowar language and literature could be ranked with other languages of the country because of its rich and varied vocabulary.
The ceremony was held to launch the first-ever Khowar-Urdu dictionary. The speakers said that the compilation and publication of the Khowar dictionary was a landmark achievement.
Those who addressed the ceremony included compiler of the dictionary Naji Khan Naji, former MPA Maulana Jahangir Khan, tehsil nazim Sartaj Ahmed Khan, president of Anjuman Taraqi-i-Khowar M Yousuf Shahazad, intellectuals Mukarram Shah, Moula Nigah and others.
They said that the dictionary contained more than 16,000 words and phrases of Khowar language which had been rendered into the national language. They said that serious efforts by the writers and poets of Khowar were afoot to bring the language at par with the other languages of the country.
The speakers said that the number of publications on Khowar prose and poetry had reached 500 which showed steady progress and advancement of the language. They said that diversity of the subjects used in the language was enough to testify the approach of the Khowar writers.
They said though a good number of words had been replaced by other languages but the dictionary still preserved the essence of the Khowar language.--Dawn
Speakers at a ceremony held here on Sunday said that Khowar language and literature could be ranked with other languages of the country because of its rich and varied vocabulary.
The ceremony was held to launch the first-ever Khowar-Urdu dictionary. The speakers said that the compilation and publication of the Khowar dictionary was a landmark achievement.
Those who addressed the ceremony included compiler of the dictionary Naji Khan Naji, former MPA Maulana Jahangir Khan, tehsil nazim Sartaj Ahmed Khan, president of Anjuman Taraqi-i-Khowar M Yousuf Shahazad, intellectuals Mukarram Shah, Moula Nigah and others.
They said that the dictionary contained more than 16,000 words and phrases of Khowar language which had been rendered into the national language. They said that serious efforts by the writers and poets of Khowar were afoot to bring the language at par with the other languages of the country.
The speakers said that the number of publications on Khowar prose and poetry had reached 500 which showed steady progress and advancement of the language. They said that diversity of the subjects used in the language was enough to testify the approach of the Khowar writers.
They said though a good number of words had been replaced by other languages but the dictionary still preserved the essence of the Khowar language.--Dawn
Chitral: naanbais warned
CHITRAL: District Coordination Officer Mutasim Billah Shah has warned tandoor owners to sell bread at the fixed rate otherwise action would be taken against them.
During a surprise visit to the bazaar on Sunday, he observed that almost 80 per cent of the naanbais were selling bread of low weight. The DCO imposed fines on the violators and also gave cash prizes to two naanbais for maintaining standard bread weight.
The DCO asked the tandoor owners to also ensure quality of the floor. He also inspected a number of hotels and restaurants in the city and expressed his dissatisfaction over the hygienic conditions being maintained there. He warned them to ensure cleanliness. --Zahiruddin
During a surprise visit to the bazaar on Sunday, he observed that almost 80 per cent of the naanbais were selling bread of low weight. The DCO imposed fines on the violators and also gave cash prizes to two naanbais for maintaining standard bread weight.
The DCO asked the tandoor owners to also ensure quality of the floor. He also inspected a number of hotels and restaurants in the city and expressed his dissatisfaction over the hygienic conditions being maintained there. He warned them to ensure cleanliness. --Zahiruddin
PPP can recapture Chitral if priorities changed: MPA
DAWN, February 29, 2008
By Zar Alam Khan
ISLAMABAD: The workers of Pakistan People's Party (PPP)
Chitral chapter expect that the upcoming governments in
the centre and the NWFP would give top priority to the
development of the district to win back the grassroots
support it once enjoyed in the area.
"Drastic actions are required to woo back the estranged
workers, and allocation of a seat for the area in the next
provincial cabinet would help achieve the objective," said
Saleem Khan, the lone PPP MPA-elect from PF-89 Chitral-I during
his visit to the >>bs<>es<< offices here accompanied by
the district nazim of Chitral, Maghfirat Shah.
The MPA-elect said Chitral had long been ignored both by the
federal and provincial governments. Areawise it is the biggest
district of the province but funds are allocated to it on the
basis of population which are not enough as the area has no
income of its own while mineral, hydropower and other resources
still remain untapped.
He said his first priority would be to develop healthcare,
educational facilities and communication infrastructure which
were all in a shambles.
He said torrential rains, snowfall, landsliding and other
calamities during the last a couple of years had wreaked havoc on
the already poor communication infrastructure. As a result, roads
in Arandu, Birir, Bumburet, Arkari, Gobor and other areas were in
a dilapidated condition and needed urgent repair. Besides, the
valley also faces a crisis of power shortage as demand was
increasing but the valley's potential to generate over 4,000MW
hydro-electricity had not been explored. He regretted that the
Rs6.5 billion 106MW Golen Gol hydropower project had been left in
the cold storage after preparation of the feasibility report and
acquisition of land. He asked the federal government to expedite
work on the project to resolve the power crisis in the valley.
About lack of healthcare facilities, he said a number of BHUs
had been set up in various parts of the district but they were
still without staff. The district and the tehsil headquarters
hospitals also lacked staff and facilities. As a result, patients
suffer a lot particularly in winter when the valley is cut off
from rest of the country for five months.
He said the district also needed a university and postgraduate
colleges. At present there were one degree college for men and one
for women that too were in the main town. As a result, students after
passing the HSSC examination either discontinue education or have
to move to urban areas.
The district nazim, who belongs to the Jamaat-i-Islami, said
people pinned high hopes in the future PPP government regarding
development of the valley.
He said the NWFP government had sanctioned Rs100 million for
rehabilitation of destroyed roads. He said work on the Mastuj
bridge had already started while tenders had been floated for
the construction of Booni-Shandur road and the damaged bridge
linking the Yarkhun valley with other parts of the district.
They complained that the PML-Q candidates in the valley had
utilised the resources of an NGO in their election campaigns.
They alleged that the PML-Q candidates accompanied announced
development projects including construction of roads, bridges
and power houses and asked the people to vote for them.
By Zar Alam Khan
ISLAMABAD: The workers of Pakistan People's Party (PPP)
Chitral chapter expect that the upcoming governments in
the centre and the NWFP would give top priority to the
development of the district to win back the grassroots
support it once enjoyed in the area.
"Drastic actions are required to woo back the estranged
workers, and allocation of a seat for the area in the next
provincial cabinet would help achieve the objective," said
Saleem Khan, the lone PPP MPA-elect from PF-89 Chitral-I during
his visit to the >>bs<
the district nazim of Chitral, Maghfirat Shah.
The MPA-elect said Chitral had long been ignored both by the
federal and provincial governments. Areawise it is the biggest
district of the province but funds are allocated to it on the
basis of population which are not enough as the area has no
income of its own while mineral, hydropower and other resources
still remain untapped.
He said his first priority would be to develop healthcare,
educational facilities and communication infrastructure which
were all in a shambles.
He said torrential rains, snowfall, landsliding and other
calamities during the last a couple of years had wreaked havoc on
the already poor communication infrastructure. As a result, roads
in Arandu, Birir, Bumburet, Arkari, Gobor and other areas were in
a dilapidated condition and needed urgent repair. Besides, the
valley also faces a crisis of power shortage as demand was
increasing but the valley's potential to generate over 4,000MW
hydro-electricity had not been explored. He regretted that the
Rs6.5 billion 106MW Golen Gol hydropower project had been left in
the cold storage after preparation of the feasibility report and
acquisition of land. He asked the federal government to expedite
work on the project to resolve the power crisis in the valley.
About lack of healthcare facilities, he said a number of BHUs
had been set up in various parts of the district but they were
still without staff. The district and the tehsil headquarters
hospitals also lacked staff and facilities. As a result, patients
suffer a lot particularly in winter when the valley is cut off
from rest of the country for five months.
He said the district also needed a university and postgraduate
colleges. At present there were one degree college for men and one
for women that too were in the main town. As a result, students after
passing the HSSC examination either discontinue education or have
to move to urban areas.
The district nazim, who belongs to the Jamaat-i-Islami, said
people pinned high hopes in the future PPP government regarding
development of the valley.
He said the NWFP government had sanctioned Rs100 million for
rehabilitation of destroyed roads. He said work on the Mastuj
bridge had already started while tenders had been floated for
the construction of Booni-Shandur road and the damaged bridge
linking the Yarkhun valley with other parts of the district.
They complained that the PML-Q candidates in the valley had
utilised the resources of an NGO in their election campaigns.
They alleged that the PML-Q candidates accompanied announced
development projects including construction of roads, bridges
and power houses and asked the people to vote for them.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Chitral forest a ‘windfall’ for timber mafia
Dawn, Aug 18, 2008
By Zar Alam Khan
ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: The timber mafia in NWFP has wreaked havoc on the forest of Chitral by illegally felling green trees and smuggling them to other parts of the country. However, the government has failed to take action against the network despite initiating investigations through the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Chitral's mostly deodar forest spreads over 120,000 acres out of which 100,000 acres are commercial and the remaining 20,000 acres non-commercial.
Under the law, trees can be cut down after being marked by the government for domestic use or export to other districts. The forest area stretching from Lowari to Ayun has already been under stress due to excessive cutting for use as firewood. A total of five million trees were cut down after marking from 1967 to 1997, while clandestine cutting and smuggling also continued during the period. A large-scale marking of trees was carried out during 1990-91 but soon a ban was imposed after objections raised by environmental agencies and the public mostly from the subdivision of Mastuj who heavily depend on the forest of lower Chitral for firewood and construction purposes.
However, the timber mafia remained active and in 2005-06 succeeded in persuading the government to restart marking, saying if the ‘windfall’ trees and those affected by heavy snowfall and rains were not marked for cutting, they could catch fire and destroy the whole forest!
As a result, the government sanctioned marking and the timber mafia initiated the process from Rumbur valley after entering into a dubious deal with the elders of the area under which the forest owners would get Rs30 per foot. Soon, 700,000 trees were marked for cutting in the small valley after showing them `windfall’. However, on public complaints, an inquiry was initiated which found that out of the 700,000 trees marked, a whopping 500,000 were green and healthy saplings.
Though the government once again stopped the process but no action was taken against those who had marked green trees for cutting. Later, the youth of the area did not even allow chopping of the remaining 200,000 marked trees demanding payment at the market rate. Similarly, 200,000 trees were marked in the Birir and 600,000 in the Shishy valleys. Locals say widespread irregularities have been committed in the marking of trees in these valleys too.
Sources in the forest department said the mafia bought the trees at the rate of Rs30 per foot from the locals and smuggle it to other district where it fetched Rs3,000 per foot. "Billions of rupees are involved in the illegal trade and forest department officials from top to bottom are involved in the scam."
Chitrali officials in the forest department told Dawn that the timber mafia has been looting the forest resources of the district with impunity by keeping the local officials and the residents at bay. They said with the abolition of the state Chitral’s forest came under the administrative control of the provincial government on January 1, 1971. Giving one example of how the locals have been kept out of the decision-making process in the department, they said all key posts in the district forest department were given to outsiders. To make sure that no Chitrali got a responsible job in the department, the doors for admission to the only Forest College of the country in Peshawar have been closed on the Chitrali students. A few students who took admission to the college on a self-finance basis were denied jobs in the department lest they could expose the wrongdoings.
In a letter to the President on behalf of the residents of Arandu Lasht, one Mohammad Ali Khan complained about the indiscriminate cutting of forest in Arandu Gol, Damel and Langorbat. He said the smuggling of timber to Afghanistan and Upper Dir areas continued under the nose of the customs officials. He said the mafia got 140,000 feet of wood chopped down in Arandu Gol alone and later claimed that they had confiscated 55,000 cubic feet of wood in order to avoid payment of royalty amounting millions of rupees to the locals. But strangely, neither the accused were identified nor any investigation ordered. The locals regretted that on the one hand the government had put in place strict rules for movement of timber within the valley and on the other given a free hand to the mafia to smuggle it out of the district.
By Zar Alam Khan
ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: The timber mafia in NWFP has wreaked havoc on the forest of Chitral by illegally felling green trees and smuggling them to other parts of the country. However, the government has failed to take action against the network despite initiating investigations through the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Chitral's mostly deodar forest spreads over 120,000 acres out of which 100,000 acres are commercial and the remaining 20,000 acres non-commercial.
Under the law, trees can be cut down after being marked by the government for domestic use or export to other districts. The forest area stretching from Lowari to Ayun has already been under stress due to excessive cutting for use as firewood. A total of five million trees were cut down after marking from 1967 to 1997, while clandestine cutting and smuggling also continued during the period. A large-scale marking of trees was carried out during 1990-91 but soon a ban was imposed after objections raised by environmental agencies and the public mostly from the subdivision of Mastuj who heavily depend on the forest of lower Chitral for firewood and construction purposes.
However, the timber mafia remained active and in 2005-06 succeeded in persuading the government to restart marking, saying if the ‘windfall’ trees and those affected by heavy snowfall and rains were not marked for cutting, they could catch fire and destroy the whole forest!
As a result, the government sanctioned marking and the timber mafia initiated the process from Rumbur valley after entering into a dubious deal with the elders of the area under which the forest owners would get Rs30 per foot. Soon, 700,000 trees were marked for cutting in the small valley after showing them `windfall’. However, on public complaints, an inquiry was initiated which found that out of the 700,000 trees marked, a whopping 500,000 were green and healthy saplings.
Though the government once again stopped the process but no action was taken against those who had marked green trees for cutting. Later, the youth of the area did not even allow chopping of the remaining 200,000 marked trees demanding payment at the market rate. Similarly, 200,000 trees were marked in the Birir and 600,000 in the Shishy valleys. Locals say widespread irregularities have been committed in the marking of trees in these valleys too.
Sources in the forest department said the mafia bought the trees at the rate of Rs30 per foot from the locals and smuggle it to other district where it fetched Rs3,000 per foot. "Billions of rupees are involved in the illegal trade and forest department officials from top to bottom are involved in the scam."
Chitrali officials in the forest department told Dawn that the timber mafia has been looting the forest resources of the district with impunity by keeping the local officials and the residents at bay. They said with the abolition of the state Chitral’s forest came under the administrative control of the provincial government on January 1, 1971. Giving one example of how the locals have been kept out of the decision-making process in the department, they said all key posts in the district forest department were given to outsiders. To make sure that no Chitrali got a responsible job in the department, the doors for admission to the only Forest College of the country in Peshawar have been closed on the Chitrali students. A few students who took admission to the college on a self-finance basis were denied jobs in the department lest they could expose the wrongdoings.
In a letter to the President on behalf of the residents of Arandu Lasht, one Mohammad Ali Khan complained about the indiscriminate cutting of forest in Arandu Gol, Damel and Langorbat. He said the smuggling of timber to Afghanistan and Upper Dir areas continued under the nose of the customs officials. He said the mafia got 140,000 feet of wood chopped down in Arandu Gol alone and later claimed that they had confiscated 55,000 cubic feet of wood in order to avoid payment of royalty amounting millions of rupees to the locals. But strangely, neither the accused were identified nor any investigation ordered. The locals regretted that on the one hand the government had put in place strict rules for movement of timber within the valley and on the other given a free hand to the mafia to smuggle it out of the district.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Road closure puts Chitralis in a bind
Dawn, December 26, 2007
By Zar Alam Khan
ISLAMABAD: A crisis of sorts has gripped Chitral
as the Afghan government has not yet allowed the stranded
people of the valley to use its territory to travel to and
from the district after the closure of the Lowari Pass on
December 19.
When a few people crossed the Nawa Pass to travel through
the Kunar province of Afghanistan to Chitral from Peshawar,
the Afghan authorities detained them for a couple of days. Later,
they were released after intervention of some notables of
Chitral.
The district remains completely cut off from rest of the
country for full four months from December to April every year
after the 10,500-foot-high Lowari Pass closes for all types
of traffic due to hundreds of feet deep snow. The people of
the district use the Kunar-Nawa pass route to reach other parts
of the country during the period. Instead of any bilateral
agreement between the two governments, local notables make
temporary arrangements by holding talks with the Afghan
provincial authorities on a yearly basis to let the people
of Chitral to travel on the treacherous route through the
neighbouring Afghan province.
People of the district complained that Pakistan had always
gone an extra mile in ensuring transit trade facilities to
Afghanistan but the latter was even not ready to allow ambulance
vehicles carrying patients to and from the landlocked district
to use its territory.
They demanded that the federal government should take up the
issue with Afghanistan and get a right of way agreement signed
with Kabul, so that the people of Chitral used the Afghan
territory without any hindrance in winter till the completion
of the Lowari tunnel.
By Zar Alam Khan
ISLAMABAD: A crisis of sorts has gripped Chitral
as the Afghan government has not yet allowed the stranded
people of the valley to use its territory to travel to and
from the district after the closure of the Lowari Pass on
December 19.
When a few people crossed the Nawa Pass to travel through
the Kunar province of Afghanistan to Chitral from Peshawar,
the Afghan authorities detained them for a couple of days. Later,
they were released after intervention of some notables of
Chitral.
The district remains completely cut off from rest of the
country for full four months from December to April every year
after the 10,500-foot-high Lowari Pass closes for all types
of traffic due to hundreds of feet deep snow. The people of
the district use the Kunar-Nawa pass route to reach other parts
of the country during the period. Instead of any bilateral
agreement between the two governments, local notables make
temporary arrangements by holding talks with the Afghan
provincial authorities on a yearly basis to let the people
of Chitral to travel on the treacherous route through the
neighbouring Afghan province.
People of the district complained that Pakistan had always
gone an extra mile in ensuring transit trade facilities to
Afghanistan but the latter was even not ready to allow ambulance
vehicles carrying patients to and from the landlocked district
to use its territory.
They demanded that the federal government should take up the
issue with Afghanistan and get a right of way agreement signed
with Kabul, so that the people of Chitral used the Afghan
territory without any hindrance in winter till the completion
of the Lowari tunnel.
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