SHANGLA: Residents of Shahpur and Ranyal union councils on Tuesday started repair work on a 14-kilometre stretch of Kapar Banda link road on self-help basis.

They said that the contractor dug the road up for widening and reconstruction about two years ago, but left it then and there.

The road connects the tourist hotspot of Kapar Banda with rest of the district.

The then PTI government had approved Rs820 million for its reconstruction.

However, work on the project was stopped when the interim government took charge.

Tariq Rauf, a resident of Shahpur, said their children had to walk for half an hour to reach school due to the dug up road. He said the locals had repeatedly complained to the authorities concerned for resuming work on the road, but to no avail.

“Rains have further worsened the road condition. An accident also occurred some six months ago,” Rauf said, adding that after the accident mini jeep drivers had stopped plying on the road.

Abu Ajman, another resident, said political leaders had abandoned Shangla as they did not pay heed to the people’s miseries. He said the road was quite fine at least for travel before its excavation by the contractor for its widening and reconstruction.

The residents also demanded of the authorities concerned to ensure the contractor resumed the work on the road as soon as possible to ease their suffering.

When contacted, former minister Shaukat Yousafzai, who also belongs to Shangla, told Dawn that he had got the project approved as part of the government’s efforts to have well-carpeted roads to the tourist spots for promotion of tourism. However, he said the interim government stopped funding such projects.

LAID TO REST: Two workers, who died in a coal mine incident in Hangu district’s Tora Warai area the other day, were laid to rest in their ancestral graveyard in Kuz Kana area of Kana tehsil here on Tuesday.

Residents said that the bodies of Said Nabi and Said Wali were brought to their native town earlier in the day. They said both the deceased were relatives and from the same village.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2024