CHITRAL: Speakers at a workshop have said that several villages in the district face potential danger of glacial lake outburst floods.

“The villages of Reshun, Booni, Sonoghur and Awi face potential danger of glacial lake outburst floods where stockpiles are being maintained in ample quantity to make their timely availability to the affected people apart from creating awareness among them,” they said.

The workshop was held by Biyar Local Support Organisation in Booni to share the community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) plan with the stakeholders and government officials.

The workshop was attended by representatives of different disaster management organisations including Pakistan Red Crescent Society and other volunteers, who gave their inputs to make the documents more viable.

Community-based disaster risk management plan shared with officials

Sher Afzal, the manager of the local support organisation, said that they wanted to make the community resilient to the natural disasters.

He said that the villages of Reshun, Booni, Sonoghur and Awi faced potential danger of glacial lake outburst floods where stockpiles were being maintained in ample quantity to make their timely availability to the affected people besides creating awareness among them.

PROTEST: The residents of Mastuj tehsil have threatened to launch a protest movement if government fails to provide electricity to them from Golen Gol hydro power project.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, MPA Syed Sardar Hussain Shah, tehsil nazim Maulana Mohammad Yousuf and district councillors Maulana Javed, Sher Aziz Baig and Qazi Saifuddin said that provincial government made no alternative arrangement to provide electricity to the affected consumers after the Reshun powerhouse of Pedo was washed away in 2015.

They said that the affected people pinned hopes on the under-construction Golen Gol hydro powerhouse of Wapda, which was likely to be inaugurated by prime minister on January 8.

They added that the consumers of Mastuj were being deprived of the facility on the pretext that the area was fed by Pedo, which needed to ink agreement with Pesco to buy electricity.

“The provincial government is applying delaying tactics to ink agreement with Pesco and purchase electricity for its 21,000 consumers in upper Chitral.

“It has created unrest amongst the people. It will result in chaos if they are deprived of electricity after inauguration of the powerhouse,” said the elders.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2018