CHITRAL: Residents of the Kalash valley of Bamburate and the tourists have suggested the diversion of the impending 32-feet wide road entering and passing through the valley to the foothold of the mountainous slope on the other side of the stream flowing through the valley’s centre.

The National Highway Authority has already started construction of the first phase of the road from Ayun village, which will ultimately lead to Shiekhandeh, the last village of Bamburate valley. The road has initially been surveyed to pass through the right bank of the valley, thereby leading to demolition of a large number of houses, hotels and government buildings of schools and a museum.

Local body representatives, civil society organisations and a number of tourists to the valley have apprehend that after the construction of the road the very shape of the right bank of the stream would change.

They said during the expansion of the existing jeep-track of hardly six-feet width, a large number of houses, hotels and government-owned buildings as well Kalash’s cultural centres would have to be demolished.

They added a huge amount of money would be required to pay as compensation, which would further increase the cost of the road project.

Ajaz Butt, a tourist from Lahore, who has been a regular visitor to the valley for last two decades, said most of the charms were situated on the right bank of the stream, which would be no more once the road was expanded.

He said for a tourist, a metalled road was of no importance and what he/she yearned for was the natural landscape and topography.

Rahmat Elahi, chairman of Ayun and Kalash valleys development programme, said more than 70 per cent of the households of the valley were settled on the right bank, whose 40pc would be affected by the road project.

He said the right bank of the valley was more vulnerable to the flash floods than the left one, and the road passing through it would be frequently devastated by natural disasters of flood and flooding of the stream in the summer season.

He said realignment of the road to the foothold of the mountainous slope of the left bank would make it a stable road.

An elder of Kalash community, Buduk Khan, said they would be rendered landless if the road passed through the proposed route on the right bank.

When contacted, Minhasuddin, director general of Kalash Valleys Development Authority, also favoured the realignment of the road project. He said it would save a large amount of land of the valley, which has already shrunk due to the devastating floods and uncontrolled constructions.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2024