CHITRAL: The chairman of Chitral Development Movement, Advocate Waqas Ahmed, has demanded of the government to arrange a makeshift bridge over Istaru stream in Upper Chitral on emergency basis to save Torkhow and Terich valleys from being disconnected from the rest of the country during winter season.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he said that the bridge had collapsed nine months ago after which vehicular traffic to the area was restored through a diversion using a narrow track that would be closed with the first snowfall of the season.

The area has about 65,000 population. He said that government remained totally indifferent to their plight and did not arrange a makeshift bridge of steel that would not cost Rs1 million.

Mr Ahmed said that if any fatal accident occurred on the diversion during the season, a criminal case would be registered against the chief engineer, superintending engineer and executive engineer as well as the deputy commissioner for their negligence.

BUDGET: Centre for Peace and Development Initiative (CPDI) has launched its annual report on state of budget transparency in the country which points out shortcomings in the process at the federal and provincial level.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, a senior social organiser of Regional Community Development Programme (RCDP), the partner organisation of CPDI, imtiaz Hussain said that the stakeholders were neglected altogether during all stages of budget making and its implementation.

He said that CPDI and RCDP always strived for transparency and participation of different cross sections of society in the budget making to enlist their needs and requirements.

He said that dismal performance of the country on open budget index in the recent years raised many questions on the state of budget transparency and citizen participation in it.

He said that 150 requests for information about various stages of budget making had been made to the federal ministries and provincial departments to test transparency by CPDI but only 10 replies were received.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2020