CHITRAL, Oct 27: Expressing anguish over delay in commencement of work on the Atahk irrigation channel, residents of Mulkhow tehsil of upper Chitral gave a deadline of November 15 to the provincial government after which they threatened they would lock the offices of the irrigation department.

During a protesting demonstration in front of the Chitral Press Club on Tuesday, the people, who had travelled a 100km distance from Mulkhow to Chitral city, alleged that irrigation department authorities were deliberately delaying the issuance of work order to the contractor.

The protesters were led by Mulhow union council nazim Ameer Khan Jalali and naib nazim Bulbul Khan Ayubi.

They criticized the MMA government for its double standard as “on the one hand it was boasting of weeding out corruption but on the other it was actually augmenting it manifold”.

They said that the provincial secretary of the irrigation was neglecting the directives of the chief minister.

They said that the irrigation channel has been a long-standing demand of the people embracing two union councils of Mulkhow and Kosht and the area was hit by scarcity of irrigation water and the channel was a matter of “life and death” for them.

They demanded of President Pervez Musharraf to fulfil his promise of providing Rs20 million for the project which had been announced in a public rally in the year 2001 at Booni.

They criticized the local MNA Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali and MPA Maulana Jahangir Khan for evincing no interest in the project as both of them belonged to the MMA.

They said that after expiry of the deadline they would start a forceful agitation against the government if work was not started on the site.