CHITRAL: The residents of Yurjogh have demanded of the government to shun the under-construction siphon irrigation scheme being executed by the irrigation department as it poses threat to their village.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Wazir Khan, Mufti Israruddin, Wali Jan, Gul Ahmed Shah, Nawaz Khan, Abdul Khan and others said that their village had already been declared as highly susceptible to the natural hazard of land erosion and the irrigation scheme passing through its laterally would endanger it.

They said that the project costing Rs30 million was aimed at bringing under cultivation the pasture adjacent to their village to benefit an influential person and a local leader of the ruling PTI.

The villagers said that as per normal practice, before embarking upon such large projects, its impact was studied properly so that it might not spell environmental disaster. The scheme should benefit a large number of people but in the current case all norms and formalities were omitted for the sake of PTI leader, they added.

They said that Focus Humanitarian Assistance Pakistan had carried out geological study of the village in 2002 and issued its finding in the form of a report suggesting that irrigation activities should be minimised to its lowest level as its soil surface was slippery and could cause mass erosion.

The villagers demanded of the chief minister to look into the matter and hold the officers responsible for approving a project, which benefited only an individual and that too at the cost of a village consisting of more than 100 households.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2021