Calls to repair bridge in upper Yarkhun fall on deaf ears

The ramshackle wooden suspension bridge has never been repaired since its construction in 1993. Even during the much trumpeted reconstruction of the Mastuj to Broghil road in 2013 costing millions of rupees this bridge could not be repaired. Most of the wooden plunks of the bridge have broken and disappeared and it is feared that the bridge would not be able to withstand any heavy loaded vehicle. The collapse of the bridge will make more than five thousand households stranded besides creating a famine-like situation in areas on the north of the Zhupu village as the supply line passes through this bridge. The residents of upper Yarkhun valley told ChitralToday that they had been requesting the concerned quarters in the government to carry out the repair work on the bridge but to no avail. They again demanded that the government should immediately repair the bridge before it collapses cutting off the upper parts of the Yarkhun and Broghil valleys from other parts of Chitral.—Abdul Nasir Khan]]>