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.