Clearing the path: Locals help in reopening roads of Chitral

Roads to Kalash Valley remain blocked, residents suffer from food shortage

CHITRAL: Roads to Boni and Garam Chashma have reopened for traffic after locals and the Frontier Works Organisation had to take matters into their own hand.

“Around 1,800 people took part in the reopening of the Garam Chashma Road,” Aga Khan local council president Fazal Hameed told The Express Tribune. “Some machinery was also used in the process but it would have taken more days to reopen the road had locals not helped.”

The traffic and commute between areas in most parts of the district have been restored due to the opening of the roads.

The closure of routes due to heavy rain and floods left over 250,000 people stranded in the upper parts of Chitral and there was a shortage of food. It was also difficult to deliver aid to the affected people.

Locals said the road to Boni was blocked in Koragh. After the reopening, vehicles started taking food and other essential items to Torkaho, Morkaho, Mastuj and other areas.

The blockage of the roads was an economic threat for potato growers of the area. However, farmers have now started carrying the produce to markets down the district.

However, roads in Kalash Valley are still closed after heavy floods in the area. The residents of Bumboret have to walk to Chitral to get food for their families.

A newly elected councillor from Bumboret Valley, Hanif Ahmad, told The Express Tribune residents of Kalash Valley are suffering from problems as the shortage of food persists there due to the blockage of roads that lead to the valley.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2015.