MINGORA: People of Upper Swat here on Friday took to the streets against the slow work and use of substandard material in Kalam Road and beautification projects and demanded of the government to take immediate action against the relevant authorities.

A large number of elders, civil society members and youth of Kalam, Bahrain, Mankyal and other areas in Upper Swat gathered at Nishat Chowk in Mingora where they chanted slogans against the mismanagement in Kalam Road and beautification projects.

The protest was organised by Pakhtunkhwa Amn Jirga in collaboration with All Swat Hotels Association. Pakhtunkhwa Amn Jirga president Ghulam Ali, Abdul Wadood, Bahrain tehsil nazim Habibullah Saqib, All Swat Hotels Association president Zahid Khan, Ikram Khan and Dr Khalid Mehmood were among the participants.

The protesters said that the 32km road from Bahrain to Kalam valley was washed away by the 2010 floods after which the residents of Kalam, Utror, Gabral, Matiltan, Mankyal and many other areas had been cut off from rest of the country.

They said that construction work of the road was started in May 2017 on which they were excited because due to bad condition of the road accidents were taking place frequently resulting in casualties. However, they said that the work was slow and material used in the road project was substandard.

They said that Kalam valley was one of the fine tourist resorts visited by thousands of tourists from across the country every year.

The protesters said that majority of the people in Swat were connected with tourism industry, which was the backbone of Swat’s local economy. They said that since 2010 the tourism industry was worst affected as the road was in bad shape.

They said that a beautification project worth Rs1.2 billion was launched in Kalam valley, but some of its seven schemes were left incomplete and the material used in the construction was substandard. They demanded of the government to initiate proper inquiry into the mismanagement and use of substandard material in the projects.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2019