CHITRAL, March 18: The district government has launched a project to divert the course of the Chitral river, in a bid to save the neighbouring villages of Balach and Denin from the destruction caused by floods. Chitral Nazim Haji Maghfirat Shah formally launched the project here on Saturday.

Previously the river water had washed away thousands of canals of irrigated land of the aforementioned villages due to floods.

The project would also serve as a safeguard for the city airport from being flooded by the river water, as had happened in the previous summer, when the flood water had almost inundated the airport.—Correspondent