SHANGLA: The residents of Pir Abad union council of Alpuri tehsil have demanded of the government to ensure resumption of reconstruction work on the Bely Baba-Pagorai Road, which has been suspended since 2011.

Talking to reporters here on Sunday, they said that the 10-kilometre-long and 21-foot-wide road project was approved in 2011 and Erra was to execute it.

However, they said the contractor, who belonged to Mansehra, stopped work after blacktopping only a 200-foot stretch of the road.

Abdullah, a local, said roads in Ghorband area were dilapidated and there was no health facility.

Mian Bacha, another resident, said Pagorai top was a scenic place, but only a dirt road led to it.

He said once the Bely Baba-Pagorai Road was blacktopped and widened it would make the travel easy and safe for both the locals and the tourists.

Local Najeeb Shehzad said residents of many villages used the road to reach their destinations using only jeeps and tractors as cars and other light vehicles could not ply over it due to its bad shape.

He said the locals had requested minister for labour and culture Shaukat Yousafzai to hold a meeting with the NDMA director general, as the project had now been handed over to it, to help resume work on it without delay.

The residents said they planned to hold a sit-in on the Bisham-Swat Road in Bely Baba against the suspension of work on the road.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2020