Dry spell destroys crops in Chitral’s Mulkhow tehsil

CHITRAL: The residents of Mulkhow tehsil of Chitral have said that long dry spell has crippled their agriculture-based economy and asked the government to help them deal with the situation.

Highlighting their issues at the ?Press Forum? organised in Warijun area by the Chitral Press Club, local bodies members and elders complained that the area comprising over 10,000 households was heading towards famine as the dry spell had destroyed crops of wheat, rice, pulses, vegetables and fruits.

They said the farmers had also sold their cattle which was one of major sources of their income as the Chitrali patti made of sheep wool was a specialty.

Mulkhow was given tehsil status a year ago, but an assistant commissioner has not yet been posted and the tehsil municipal administration does not exist, they deplored.

Although electricity is being supplied from the Golen Gol hydropower station, the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation has failed to ensure equal distribution among the households.

The transformers and high-tension cables are outdated because of which frequent power breakdowns are caused, they said, adding that the rural health centre was without doctor despite being well-equipped. They said patients were forced to travel to the district headquarters hospital.

The elders and local bodies members said the government girls higher secondary school was being run without principal and 10 posts of subject specialists had long been vacant.

They expressed disappointment over inordinate delay in completion of a concrete bridge at Muzhgole which connected the Mulkhow tehsil with rest of the district.

The area residents said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mehmood Khan had inaugurated the bridge two years ago as provincial minister during the previous government, but only 20 percent of work could be completed on it.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2018

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