BUNER: The residents of Gokand valley here on Tuesday took to the streets to demand allocation of funds for repair of the 13km-long Daggar-Gokand road.

The protesters blocked the main road at the Daggar link bridge, suspending vehicular traffic to Swat, Mardan, Pir Baba and Swari for over one hour.

The Daggar-Gokand road was dug up two years back for reconstructing it, but lack of funds hampered the work, causing great hardships to transporters.

Daggar tehsil council nazim Nizamul Mulk and Gokand former nazim Bakht Rangzeb and others addressed the protesters, saying that MPA Mufti Fazal Ghafoor had suggested Rs145 million to be allocated in the ADP 2015-16 for reconstruction of the road, but the government set aside a meager Rs5 million.

They added the contractor had spread gravel on the road which was causing problems to the road users. They maintained that dust rising from the road was causing chest and throat problems for people.

They threatened to paralyse the whole district if the chief minister did not release special funds for completion of the project.

Additional Assistant Commissioner, Daggar, Zahid Usman Kakakhel and district naib nazim Yousaf Ali Khan rushed to the spot and convinced the protesters to reopen the road, asking them to form a jirga for holding negotiations with the authorities in that regard.

Following the assurance, the protesters dispersed. Later, they formed a jirga, which held talks with the executive engineer of C&W in the deputy commissioner’s office.

The official assured the protesters of writing a letter to the chief minister and chief secretary for allocation of special funds for timely completion of the road.

After the meeting, the jirga members told media persons that they gave a weeklong deadline to the administration to resolve the matter, otherwise they would again come on the roads.

Published in Dawn January 4th, 2017