CHITRAL: The residents of the isolated Oveer valley of Upper Chitral have demanded of the government to build a road to the hilly area comprising 12,000 people where the highly perilous mule tracks of 19th century are used as roads.

Highlighting the issues in the ‘Press Forum’ organised by the Chitral Press Club in Barum, Shongush and Riri villages, the representatives of local bodies and elders complained the valley consisting of seven villages was the most backward.

Dirt tracks linked the mountainous valley with the Chitral-Booni road, they said, adding the valley also lacked basic necessities like drinking water, healthcare centre, schools and telephone. Elected members of provincial and national assembly from Chitral never bothered to visit the area once they are elected, they lamented.

There was only one basic health unit in the valley whose building collapsed in the 2015 earthquake, but it is yet to be rebuilt, they pointed out, saying a number of pregnant women died on way to the DHQ hospital.

The locals said the government higher secondary school was being run without principal and 12 posts of subject specialists had been lying vacant for last two years.

They deplored that there was no girls high school in the whole union council, due to which dropout rate of girls was more than 80 per cent after primary. The building of the high school got collapsed in the 2015 earthquake, but the education department was indifferent towards its reconstruction.

They said agriculture, livestock, fisheries, sports and tourism departments had zero interventions in the valley while no deputy commissioner had ever bothered to visit the backward area.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2018