CHITRAL: The president of district bar association Sajidullah advocate filed an application for formal initiation of a criminal case against the

National Highway Authority (NHA) officials and others for sub-standard construction of Chitral-Shandur Road.

In the application addressed to the officials of city police station, he alleged that the

construction of the road project was not carried out according to the construction contract’s specified standards.

“The executing agency, construction company and the consultant firm are in collusion to misappropriate the public funds meant for the construction of the main artery of Chitral,” the application narrated.

NHA Project Director Zaheerud Din told Dawn that he was unaware of any application against the officials of his department and others.

He regretted that the local people were wasting precious time by such ventures, causing further delay to the completion of project.

MINING BAN IRKS WORKERS: The mine workers’ association demanded of the government to remove unnecessary restrictions on mining activities in Chitral.

Addressing a press conference, the association’s office bearers including Liaquat Ali, Bashir Ahmed Khan and others said that out of 183 government-approved mining sites, only 12 were operational and the rest of all were closed due to various restrictions and reasons.

They said that the restriction of having no-objection certificate (NOC) for mining activities was only applicable to Chitral district, and rest of the entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was exempted from this condition, causing unemployment and great hardships for leaseholders and mine workers in Arsoon, Gobor and Arkari areas.

They said that most of the sites faced closure due to the change in the supply of explosives to the leaseholders from the depot of the Mining Department where only 5kg of explosives were issued on daily basis, making it difficult to carry out mining activities.

They said that previously, a quantity of 25 kg of explosives was issued at a time for a weekto every leaseholder, which was quite manageable for blasting purposes, and revival of the old practice was inevitable.

They appealed to the concerned quarters to end the condition of working NOC and restore the old procedure of issuance of explosives from the depot.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2024