Substandard road construction angers minister

CHITRAL, Jan 4:  Provincial Minister for Population Welfare  Saleem Khan on Thursday  inaugurated the reconstructed Bakarabad road that has been completed at a cost of 11.5 million rupees.

However, he  expressed his concern over the poor condition of the road and use of substandard material in its reconstruction. He announced that no one would be allowed to embezzle the funds. He also ordered an investigation into to ascertain why the C&W department had not supervised the project giving a free hand to the contractor to use substandard material in blacktopping of the road.

The minister also opened the bridge to Prait reconstructed at a cost of Rs7 million. The bridge was gutted in afire last year, cutting off the area with other parts of the valley. In their welcome address, the notables of the area demanded that a hospital should also be constructed in their area. They said due to absence of healthcare facilities, they had to take their patients to Booni or Chitral.

They also demanded posting of staff to the newly-constructed high school in the area. They said that after burning of this bridge, hundreds of school and college going students remained deprived of their education. The minister assured the people that the PPP government would resolve their issues.–G.H.Farooqui