CHITRAL: People travelling to and from Chitral are charged Rs20 to Rs50 per vehicle for using the makeshift wooden bridges the locals have erected on the nullahs on both sides of the Lowari tunnel as the National Highway Authority overlooks the matter.

The drivers complained that the NHA could save them from the extortion by only placing some four or five 12-foot steel girders over the nullahs, which was done by the local people who used some deodar wood for the purpose.

The NHA has yet to construct bridges over about 10 nullahs, as a result of which, the vehicles have to cross the overflowing streams whose surfaces are full of boulders which caused the vehicles to stuck in the middle.

Irfan Gul hailing from Timergara and driving a taxi between his city and Chitral on a daily basis said that he had to pay more than Rs500 on each trip to the owners of the private bridges.

He said they had no choice but to use the private bridges because it was too risky for them to drive the vehicles through the fast flowing water.

He said the driver’s union of both Chitral and Dir districts had time and again approached the NHA officers to solve the problem, but to no avail.

Rahat Ali of Drosh town, travelling to Timergara in a car, said a makeshift bridge over the nullah could cost the NHA not more than Rs50,000.

As per data released from the office of regional police officer of Malakand division, about 11,000 vehicles of tourists crossed into Chitral on the occasion of Eidul Fitr which showed that the ‘private bridge’ owners collected a hefty amount of money from the drivers for using the facility.

No officer of the maintenance department of NHA based in Peshawar could be contacted on telephone despite repeated attempts to know their version on the matter.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2019