MINGORA: The four-day Swat tourism and trade festival, which was scheduled to be held on Aug 11, has been postponed in the wake of destruction by floods in Chitral and possible bad weather in Swat valley.

An ISPR statement said that the ‘Swat tourism and trade gala’ had been postponed due to possible bad weather in the valley.

It stated that the other reason for delaying the event was to express solidarity with the people of Chitral which was recently hit by massive floods. New dates for the festival, which is aimed at revival and strengthening of tourism industry in the scenic valley, will be announced soon, it said.

“The revenue generated from the festival will be spent on relief and welfare of the flood-affected people of Chitral,” says the statement.

Every year summer festival is organised with the joint efforts of the provincial government, the Pakistan Army and district administration in Kalam and Mahodand areas to promote tourism in the valley, strengthen peace achieved with the sacrifices rendered by the local people, police and security forces and to increase socio-economic activities for creating job opportunities for the local people.

Deputy Commissioner, Swat, Mahmood Aslam Wazir told Dawn that the main reason for the postponement of the tourism festival was to show solidarity with the flood-hit people of Chitral.

Local people and hotel owners association in Swat have said that people of Swat stand with the people of Chitral in their difficult time.

PROTEST MEETING: Parents of students of the Working Folks Grammar School and office bearers of the silk and labour unions have threatened to stage a sit-in on August 15 against the provincial government, which, they claim, is trying to deprive the workers’ children of education.

The workers and office-bearers of the Muttahida Ittefaq Labour Union of cosmetics and silk unit held a meeting here on Tuesday in which they expressed concern over the poor performance of the provincial ministry of labour.

“The ministry has failed to address the issues of workers and labourers and the provincial government is deliberately depriving the children of poor workers of education,” said Abdul Wadood, president of the labour union.

He said that provision of the free books, uniform and transportation facility to the children and workers had been stopped by the labour ministry.

“The workers are concerned about education of their children as they can’t afford to buy books and uniform for them,” said Sahib Zaman, president of the Swat Silk Mills Union.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2015

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