SWABI: The irrigation department has started construction work on a bridge here on Maneri Badri nullah which was a longstanding demand of the people facing problems in transportation of goods and reaching their destinations, especially during flash floods.

Sources in the irrigation department said that the project costing Rs12 million would be completed in two years.

Talking to this correspondent on Friday, the local people demanded that the construction process should be completed quickly to avoid losses. They said that if the contractor failed to complete the bridge before monsoon rains, floodwater would wash away all the construction materials.

They said that in case of heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding of Maneri nullah the students of Shagai village and surrounding localities could not reach their educational institutions across the nullah and the area remained cut off from rest of the district.

“The farmers always faced problem to go to their fields whenever downpour lashed the region followed by flood because no one could cross the raging floodwater,” said a 60-year-old farmer Masal Khan.

The residents recalled that several people had lost their lives in the floodwater while trying to cross the nullah during flood.

Zar Mohammad, another resident, said that political parties were responsible for the people’s misery as they could not build the bridge.

PPP MEETING: Divisional general secretary of Pakistan Peoples Party Javid Inqilabi said in a gathering on Friday that the ruling party leaders were afraid of Pakistan Democratic Movement’s increasing popularity among the masses.

He said that they would continue their protest drive against the government till achieving the objective.

He said that struggle of the PDM parties would continue till ouster of the PTI government.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2020