Preparations in full swing for Aga Khan's visit to Chitral

Report R.A. Jafar, Booni

About 500 animals, including a dozen of yaks, donated by the residents of the far-off Boroghil valley in connection with the forthcoming visit of His Highness the Aga Khan to Chitral were auctioned at a ceremony in Booni.
A large number of people from all sections of society participated in the ceremony held at Lasht in Booni. Prominent among those were MNA Shahzada Mohiuddin, MPA Ghulam Mohammad and notables of the area.
Except a few, all the animals were sold out on the occasion. The buyers included butchers who had come from as far as Drosh.
The animals were donated by the residents of Boroghil as nazrana for the preparations to welcome the spiritual leader of Ismailis to Chitral.
On the occasion, the MNA announced a donation of Rs100,000 and the MPA said he would donate Rs50,000.
Meanhile, preparations to welcome the Aga Khan to the valley are in full swing at all the four venues where he will meet members of his jamaat during the visit.The Aga Khan is expected to speak to the Ismailis at Booni, Brep, Parabek and Mashad in Garam Chashma. Venue for the congregation of the people and special rooms called green houses for the short stay of the Aga Khan are being constructed in the four villages.
The people of Mashad in garam Chashma have bought 60 jireeps of land and constructed a 'green house' on it from their own resources for accommodating the people who will gather to have a glimpse of the Aga Khan.
Posted by Yarkhun at 9:14 AM 0 comments
Labels: aga khan, chitral, nazrana


Saturday, October 11, 2008
MNA justifies supporting PPP
By Our Correspondent

CHITRAL: MNA Shahzada Mohiuddin has said that he supported the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the presidential election to ensure continuation of the development process initiated in the district.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, he said that nothing was dearer to him than the development of his constituency and it was due to this reason that he returned to the lower house of the parliament for the fourth time.
Mr Mohyuddin was elected as an MNA from Chitral on the PML-Q ticket.
He said that due to its enormous size and mountainous topography, the district was far backward and provision of basic infrastructures was yet a dream and they needed uplift funds.
The MNA said that a number of development projects had been started during the government of the PML-Q which included Golen Gol hydel project, Booni-Shandur road, construction of truck-able bridge at Mastuj and extension of the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) to the district.
He said the present government had decided to continue the ongoing development projects in Chitral for which he was grateful to President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani.
“I have obtained Benazir Income Support Cards from the federal government, which will be equally distributed among the 24 union councils,” he said and added that the cards would be awarded to deserving women irrespective of their political affiliations and a transparent way would be adopted in this process.
Posted by Yarkhun at 9:26 AM 0 comments
Timely completion of uplift projects ordered
DCO Mutasim Billah Shah has directed the officials of different devolved departments to ensure completion of development projects within the stipulated time while keeping the quality of the work.
Presiding over a meeting of the officers in connection with the preparation of annual development programmes for the next fiscal year here on Saturday, he said that no laxity would be tolerated as the inordinate delay in completion of projects caused problems for the people.
A number of development schemes were discussed on the occasion keeping in view their modalities for the area.
Posted by Yarkhun at 9:25 AM 0 comments


Impersonator arrested
Chitral police arrested a person impersonating himself as a police constable here on Saturday. SHO of Chitral police Inspector Mohammad Khalid said he spotted the suspect, Mohammad Anwar, a resident of Lotkoh valley, wearing police uniform in the bazaar.
He said the person was arrested on the spot and his remand has been obtained from the local court and investigations are in progress.

Posted by Yarkhun at 6:25 AM 0 comments
Friday, October 10, 2008
Opening of Lowari tunnel for light traffic demanded
PESHAWAR: A 15-member delegation of Chitral Students Welfare Association and notables of Chitral led by NWFP minister for population welfare called on NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani and discussed with him various issues related to Chitral.
The delegation informed the governor that people of Chitral used to travel via Afghanistan and Mohmand Agency during winter seasons after the blockade of Lowari Top due to heavy snowfall. But this year it was not possible to travel through Afghanistan and Mohmand Agency because of ongoing operations against the militants in the tribal areas, they said.
The delegation demanded that arrangements should be made to open the under-construction Lowari tunnel for light traffic on temporary basis during the coming winter season.
The governor told the delegation that he would contact the federal government and National Highway Authority to open the tunnel for light traffic on temporary basis soon after the excavation work was over.
The delegation demanded that various valley roads of Chitral including Chitral-Garam Chasma Road, Drosh-Arandu Road, Booni- Yarkhun Road, Booni-Torkhow Road should be widened.
The delegation told the governor that Chitral was the only safe and feasible route to connect Pakistan with Central Asian Countries to which the governor responded that correspondence with concerned quarters to that affect had already been under taken and hopefully there would soon be a leap forward in that regard.
The delegation proposed to strengthen Chitral police and Chitral border police so as to keep vigilant eye on the bordering areas to avoid any possible incursion of militants into Chitral. The governor said that Chitral was the most peaceful area of the province and the government would take every possible step to maintain it peaceful environment.
On this occasion, members of Chitral Students Association demand that reserved seats for Chitrali students in Khyber Medical College should be increased and one seat for Chitrali students be reserved in each department of Peshawar University and one seat in the Women Medical College.
The governor termed the demand of the students just and assured them of taking necessary steps in that regard.
The provincial minister invited the governor to pay a visit to Chitral, which the governor accepted and assured him that he would visit Chitral at the earliest.--APP
Posted by Yarkhun at 11:13 AM 0 comments



Shortage of technical staff mars uplift in Chitral
Report Zahiruddin

CHITRAL: The shortage of technical staff in the works and services department has affected pace of development activities and projects worth millions of rupees have been put at stake, sources said on Friday.
The sources said that the post of deputy director of water and sanitation was lying vacant for the last six months while three posts of assistant directors and seven sub-engineers were vacant for the last one year.
The apathy of the government could be gauged from the fact that the department was being run by only a single sub-engineer for execution of two projects worth Rs100 million at Drosh and Booni, the sources maintained.
There were scores of other small and medium sized water supply and sanitation projects work on which had either been stopped or being carried out using substandard material due to the absence of competent engineering staff, the sources further said.
They said that due to shortage of staff projects of roads and buildings were being affected adversely, as only three sub-engineers were presently available to cover the whole district, adding the district was also going to be deprived of its due share in the annual development programme (ADP) for the forthcoming fiscal year.
They said that many projects of vital importance had either been dropped or could not be completed within the stipulated time.
They said that detailed estimates of different schemes were to be submitted to the provincial government to be included in the draft proposals of the ADP but the capacity of the works and services department was not that much to prepare the documents by December this year.
When contacted, district nazim Maghfirat Shah said he had been trying his best to fill the posts but without success.
He alleged that the provincial government was turning a deaf ear to his requests as the departments provided basic and primary infrastructure facilities to the people and any inertia at the government level could not be afforded.
Mr Shah said that area-wise Chitral was the biggest district in the province and thus needed more manpower to timely complete the development projects and repair and maintain the existing road and water supply infrastructure.
He said that the nazims of various union councils had even warned to lock out the district offices of the departments if the vacant posts were not filled within two weeks.
Posted by Yarkhun at 9:21 AM 0 comments
Labels: chitral, uplift, zar alam