CHITRAL: The Chitral river originates from Chiantar glacier in Baroghil outpost of Chitral and traverses a distance of 496 kilometres collecting dozens of mountain streams on the way before entering Afghanistan at Arandu. The river meanders viciously at places eating up a large parcel of could be useful land gushes down without being of any worthwhile use. It however has negative impact on the land when it floods in the summer season destroying habitation in the vicinity. The current destruction of a main road and connected habitation it has caused at Reshun is a good example how ‘bad’ it can be.
The river however yields immense potential if harnessed. A Chinese engineer once seeing the gushing river exclaimed “we could provide electricity to the whole country if we had this river”. before anything else if the Chitral river can be channelized from Chianter to Arandu, it could release thousands of acres of useful land which could be used for cultivation. The Suez canal was built in 1869 and connects two seas, the Mediterranean and the Red sea, and at that time there were no advanced equipment etc. Now that technology is so developed channeling the river in the winter season with latest technology and equipment is not a far cry. If done it can do marvels to the land. Planned plantation on the banks and usage of the reclaimed land for forestation etc can change the face of Chitral from a dry and rough topography to a most picturesque one competing with Switzerland and all. .. CN report, 12 Jun 2021
One thought on “Channelization of Chitral river can wonderfully transform the area”
I fully agree with the writer and thanks for highlighting the chronic environmental issue of this region.
commendable. It is a chronic environmental issue of Chital