UPPER DIR: Although flood brings devastation and destruction, yet the residents of Goghabanj, an area situated on the bank of the Panchkora River in Upper Dir, consider it a gift of nature as they earn millions of rupees every year by selling sand, brought by flood.

Ijazullah, a local, said that every year in the summer season flood brought sand which he stored at the riverside. They sold the sand in winter when water level decreased in the river, he added.

Mr Ijazullah said that they earned up to Rs40,000 daily by selling sand. They considered flood a special gift of the nature for them and prayed for floods in the summer season every year, he added.

Mr Ijazullah said that although they earned millions of rupees every year by selling sand yet it was not an easy job. “Our skin gets cracked due to cold waves of air and we feel pain,” he added.

They earn millions of rupees every year by selling river sand

He said that they had to set up a wooden bridge over the river to make sure access of vehicles to the ‘sand point’. He said that he sold a truckload of sand at Rs1,000.

“We are four partners and hardly get up to Rs0.2 million in a year,” he said.

Sultan Habib, a labour, said that they were three workers, who loaded the vehicles. He said that they were loading 18 to 22 vehicles daily and got Rs200 per vehicle. “It [loading] is an easy work. We are very happy and satisfied with it,” said Mr habib.

Another labour said that some time they got more than Rs200 for loading a vehicle as some drivers gave them extra money.

The drivers said that it was dangerous to cross the bridge, made over the river to reach the ‘sand point’. They said that the bridge was too weak to drive on.

“We take light weight in our vehicles because the bridge cannot bear a lot of weight,” Arshad, a driver, said. He added that he took 15 to 20 trips daily to the nearby areas.

“I get Rs3,000 for one trip and deliver sand to the client at the prescribed place,” said Mr Arshad. He added that other drivers, who came from Dir Khas, were paid up to Rs5,000 per trip.

The owners of sand points demanded of construction of bridges over the river for safe access of vehicles to the sand points.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2016