24 April 2004	Saturday	03 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD, April 23: A large number of people of the Mastuj union council, about 100km north of Chitral town, have gone on a hunger strike against suspension of work on a major road project in the area.

Reports said that for the first time women have also joined the hunger strikers to press the government for resumption of work on the project. The Rs60 million project, which also envisages construction of a bridge over the Yarkhun River near Mastuj town, was launched about four years ago when President Gen Pervez Musharraf had announced construction of a network of roads to inter-link the Northern Areas and Chitral.

The president had inaugurated the Gizar-Mastuj road widening project on Aug 28, 2001, which now has almost been completed. But for unknown reasons work on a 7-km-long track of new road has been abandoned midway after a sum of Rs10.73 million was spent on it.

The road, once completed, will link the upper and lower parts of the over 350-km-long valley through an all-weather route. At present people use a highly hazardous narrow strip of road which passes at the foot of a mountain, on which over 50 people have lost their lives in 20 accidents over the last few years.

The road besides being dangerous remains closed due to glaciers and avalanches from January to March each year. The new road will avoid the mountainous terrain and, passing though a desert, will re-enter Mastuj town from the west. It will also connect the district with the Karakoram Highway through the Shandur Pass.

People of the area said the communication and works department had completed about 90 per cent of work at a cost of about Rs1.73 million. According to the residents, NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani had approved the project but so far funds have not been released.

On Aug 5, 2003, President Gen Pervez Musharraf had assured the district Nazim that work on the construction of the bridge would be restarted soon. The people of the area said the government had been using delaying tactics and keeping them on false promises about the project.

They criticized their elected representatives for not taking up the issue at higher level and added that because of their infighting a number of vital development projects had either been abandoned or put into cold storage.

They also urged President Musharraf to intervene and order immediate resumption of work on the project. The hunger strikers said they would continue their struggle till the government fulfilled its promises and ordered restart of work on the project.