April 01, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 12, 1428

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GILGIT, March 31: People belonging to the Sumayar Village in Nagar valley have said that they will take extreme steps if the plan to build a concrete bridge on Hunza River is scrapped.

Addressing a news conference here on Saturday, their representatives —including member of the Gilgit District Council and its former chairman, Qalb-i-Ali — said that after holding negotiations with the deputy chief of the Northern Areas, regional adviser for planning and development and residents of Ganish in central Hunza, it was agreed that a bridge would be constructed on the said river. However, the deputy chief executive had been opposing the plan.

They said that opposition from the deputy chief executive Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan, who belongs to Hunza, would result in a serious row between the people of Nagar and Hunza. They appealed to the commander of Northern Areas, its chief secretary and chief executive to take steps for implementation of the plan on the selected site.

The sources said the controversy over construction of the bridge was brewing for the past some years and villagers from Sumayar had launched a media campaign. They said the proposed bridge, if constructed on the designated site, would open up a host of other controversies between people of the two valleys.

They added that construction of the bridge might disturb the status quo over a land dispute and various interest groups did not want to create confusion in the region.