CHITRAL: A weeklong cleanliness drive kicked off here the other day with the active participation of Chitral Scouts and civil society activists.

Deputy Commissioner Osama Ahmad Warraich, Commandant of Chitral Scouts Col Niazmud Din Shah and district nazim Maghfirat Shah led an awareness walk before formally inaugurating the campaign in DHQ hospital by removing a dump of solid waste.

Surprisingly, members of the recently raised volunteers task force were conspicuous by their absence from the cleanliness drive.

Earlier, speaking at the opening function, district nazim Maghfirat Shah said heaps of garbage and solid waste could be seen in every nook and corner of the city, which posed serious health hazards.

He praised the district administration for launching the cleanliness drive. He hoped that with the local government institutions being put in place and powers and resources being delegated to the grassroots level, cities and towns would be kept neat and clean.

Col Nizamud Din Shah assured the district administration of his all out support to make the drive a success.

Deputy Commissioner Osama Ahmed Warraich expressed his resolve to take concrete steps to keep the city clean. He said his administration was going to launch a drive to remove encroachments from the city markets.

BAN ON GRAZING: The residents of Singur village here have demanded of the government to implement the court orders banning the grazing of goats in the village pasture which has caused floods in the recent past.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, Ashraf Ali, Azam Shah, Qazi Inayatullah, Ghaffar Ali and others said a small group of villagers was still adamant on letting their goats graze in the common pasture despite the fact that majority of people had abandoned the practice keeping in view the threat of flash floods.

They said the court had also handed down its verdict against the grazing of goats in the pasture while the district administration had also banned the practice. They alleged that with the tacit support of the district nazim and an officer of the local administration, the few villagers were grazing their goats in the common pasture.

The villagers said the practice was jeopardising the whole village which also housed important government buildings, including doctors colony, government girls high school, offices of Pak Met department, Civil Aviation Authority’s residential colony and Chitral airport.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2015