0
MINGORA, Sept 29: The Jambil-Gokand road, despite millions of rupees spent on its construction, is still in a bad shape and not suitable for vehicular traffic.
The road was approved in 1993, but the successive governments used delaying tactics to construct it for unknown reasons.
This is a short link road, which can bring all the three districts of Buner, Swat and Shangla districts closer. As compared to the Mingora-Karakar road, the Jambil-Gokand road is some 40km shorter.
It can boost local economy and improve farm to market communication. The people residing along the road are of the opinion that the construction work had been done phase-wise and was not up to the standard, but the authorities concerned did not bother to check it.
During the last month's torrential rains, the land sliding has damaged the road which also lacks a proper drainage system. Muhammad Alam Bacha, a local elder, said its construction had been a long-standing demand of the people, but the rulers always created problems for them and avoided to construct it.
People had been visiting offices of the high-ups concerned for over a decade to get their attention towards it, but to no avail, he regretted. He demanded that the government should allocate funds for the repair and maintenance of the road so that the people of Swat and Buner could use it.
As per programme, the elder said, the road had to be opened much earlier, but the work had been delayed unnecessarily. September 24, 2004, had been fixed for its opening, but drivers were not ready to use it.
It was also proposed that a 500-meter tunnel should be made near Gokand upper to facilitate travelling because in the winter season, the Yakh Tangi road could not be used for months due to heavy snowfall.
COUPLE SHOT DEAD: Unidentified people killed an man and his wife in the Gulkada Colony in the early hours of Wednesday. Sources said Masood Ahmad, a mining engineer, and his wife Farzana were sleeping in their house when they were sprayed with bullets by unidentified people. Both died on the spot.
Later, a son of the slain couple accused Tariq Bilal of killing his parents. Qasim, brother of accused Tariq, however, rejected the charge and claimed that his brother had gone to Peshawar and was unaware of the incident.
