Qimat Nazim Beg
 

Chitral town is undoubtedly the most romantic, captivating and enchanting place in the majestic Hindukush range, a mountainous area in the extreme north of Pakistan and head quarter of Chitral district. It is a poor and relatively remote region. Chitral is different in many ways from other regions of the Frontier. Chitral town is one of the peaceful city of KPK.
I would like to draw following some problems facing by the citizens of Chitral town and ask to solve these problems.

1. Traffic & Road Problems
The county is not to poor to fix the roads they just waste money on unneeded repairs. They are replacing a bridge on bear creek that does not need replacing. They just filled a few holes on my road (paved) with gravel and think they do a good job. They problem is not just the road authorities though, it is all the district officials they control where the money goes and would rather waste it than fix things. Plus there is the drugs people come from all over for the drugs, I almost forgot the druggies how embarrassing.

The slow pace of work on the Abdul Wali Khan by-pass has proved to be a constant source of inconvenience for the dwellers of Chital city due to the indifferent attitude of the communication and works department.
Talking to me here on last month, a number of people complained that the road had become a trap for them instead of solving the dilemma of congested vehicular traffic.

The starting point of the 1.8km road passes through the hillock near the Chew Bridge which divides the city into two and the blockade of road at this point is creating nuisance for public on both sides.

The ground breaking ceremony of the project had been performed by the chief minister on 30th October 2010 with the promise that the project will be completed within two months.

The people have also expressed their reservations about the alignment of the road which has been made zigzag instead of straight one. A local scholar, poet, social worker and founding leader of PPP Gul Nawaz Khaki said that the road should be straight one because a large sum of 35 million rupees is being spent on it while the inept engineers of C&W have badly failed to draw a proper design for its alignment. Mr. Khaki questioned that if the government pays for each and every inch of the land used, then why it should not take its due course. He alleged that the department officials saved certain people and saved their lands or homes and spoiled the whole thing. He demanded that the consultant firm and the executing department officials must be taken to task for such flawed and imperfect design of the road. All efforts to contact the site engineer also failed. Chitral DCO Rahmatullah Wazir told to the newspaper some time before that rock-cutting was a difficult job and the people should bear the hardships for the time being to achieve their long-cherished project of bye-pass road.

Inside sources told me that the public works department initiated the work without issuing proper work order to the contractor which was in contravention of the codes of the department. They said laxity on the part of the contractor was because of non-payment of dues.
I would like to disclose to another traffic problem which having been between Jughoor and Shadok on the road due to the falling stones upper the hills stops traffic and damaging road from time to time.

2. Cleanliness
It is welcome news that District Administration Chitral with financial support of CIADP is planning to install electronic lights at strategic locations in the bridges. But this will not be enough to beautify the city in view of deteriorating sanitation and cleanliness conditions of the capital. It may be mentioned here that heaps of rubbish and filth are found at many pleases. Shopping bags, waste papers and fallen tree leaves are littered all around the streets, roads and market places. Sewerage system is chocked with plastic bags. The city, which once used to be neat and clean, today presents an ugly look. I would request the relevant authorities to take remedial measures to give the city at least a tidy look, if they cannot restore its past beauty.

3.Electrification
The shortage in electricity production in Chitral is worsening day by day which is causing long break downs and load shedding as called by government. The crisis started about two years ago when all of sudden the electricity consumption increased to a point where all the electricity producing sources failed to fulfill the demand. Apparently it is a matter of supply and demand as the government officials are also claiming. But is it really the truth?
Major portion of electricity in Chitral is through hydle power generation. Then other contribution is from thermal power plants which are mostly managed and operated by private power production companies. Government of Pakistan has agreements with these power producers to purchase electricity at a mutually agreed price. Unfortunately, government of Pakistan had stopped payments to these private power producers as a result the power production has been stopped at these thermal power plants. The aging electricity distribution system of the country could not handle the shortage and there are major faults very frequently on other electricity generation facilities. Now in some areas the load shedding duration has reached 16 hours a day.
There is no shortage in the electricity production capacity in Chitral at all. It is lack of commitment on government part that is pushing the district and its economy deeper into this crisis. How much productivity has been lost during the last one year or so due to energy crisis in the country? Can District Administration of Chitral answer this question?

3. Poor Health facilities
What makes it scandalous is that no one in the federal or provincial government has taken notice of this criminal shortage for so many years and patients are left with no option but to slowly die a silent death in the absence of such a life-saving drug. Recently a resident of Lotkuh died for sake bite due to the non availability of snake venom antiserum a life saving drug in DHQ hospital Chitral I request those at the helm of affairs to take urgent notice of the matter and ensure an adequate supply of these life-saving drugs in Chitral.--Qimat Nazim Beg Shadok Chitral, 26 July 2011.    Email.qimatnazimbeg@yahoo.com,

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