LOWER DIR: Vehicular traffic to and from Kumrat was disrupted on Monday as a major portion of the main road leading to the scenic valley in Upper Dir caved in suddenly in Daba area, according to locals.

They told this scribe by telephone that a major portion of the road totally collapsed. They said that scores of tourists were stranded in the scenic valley.

However, former MPA from the area Mohammad Ali said that small vehicles like cars and jeeps could pass through the damaged portion of the road. He said that protection walls on both sides of Kumrat road were affected by recent torrential rains and flooded streams.

The former lawmaker told this scribe by telephone from Peshawar that the road was blacktopped during the MMA government in 2006 with the financial support of Asian Development Bank.

The deputy commissioner of Upper Dir, Irfan Ali Khan, told local journalists that work on restoration of the road was in progress and traffic on it would soon resume.

Former MPA says small vehicles can pass through the damaged portion of road

BRIDGE: Disappointed by the government and local lawmakers, the residents of Amlok Dara village in Talash on Tuesday launched construction work on a bridge over a stream and announced plans to build it on their own.

Local elder Malik Taj Mohammad Khan, DSP Bakht Jamal, Mufti Khalid Mehmood, Engineer Murad Khan and village council chairman Rehmanzada formally launched the project at a function in the presence of hundreds of locals.

They said that they had been requesting lawmakers and government for the last 50 years to construct a bridge over the stream on a link road leading to Amlok Dara village but to no avail.

They said that the project would cost Rs8.5 million. They said that the amount would be collected from well-off people. They said that it would be a model project and locals would work free of cost to contribute to the project.

Speakers also criticised the present and past lawmakers from the area for their failure to build the bridge. They lauded the efforts of overseas Pakistanis for motivating them to start work on the project without any government’s support.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2024