Kosht cut off as road washed away by flooding river

The river is on high floods due to the phenomenal increase in volume of streams joining it in upper Chitral in the wake of the rising temperatures that led to melting of glaciers. When ChitralToaday contacted Ghulam Mustafa, the UC Nazim, he said: “I had already informed the deputy commissioner Chitral early in March who referred to the matter to the executive engineer of the communication and works department. But the C&W department paid no heed to the situation on time and now the outcome is in front of us.” He further said about Rs20 million had been released for repairing the road from Charun to Zondragram Deh but it is not known where the allocated funds had gone. Now the people of Kosht are stranded and have to use Muxgol as an alternative route for travel to and from their area. It is too much lengthy and will cause wastage of time and money, he concluded. ChitralToday also contacted Shahzada Umer Jillani, the Youth Councilor of the area, who also mentioned the same agony and said: “I met MPA Sardar Hussain regarding the disturbing situation. The MPA also referred the matter to the C&W authorities who used delaying tactics and now the contractor has also disappeared.” Interestingly, the authorities concerned instead of taking proactive action made a number of blocks through nets and rocks to divert the direction of the Yarkhun River. The road could have been saved had the authorities constructed a strong protection wall along the road.]]>