CHITRAL/PESHAWAR, Aug 19: A sum of Rs1256.97 million will be needed to rehabilitate physical infrastructure and pay compensation to the victims of the recent rains and flashfloods in Chitral.

This was stated by Chitral deputy commissioner Shoaib Jadoon while unveiling the first damage assessment report of the district disaster management unit here on Monday.

The deputy commissioner said flashfloods had played havoc with the life and property of the people in Chitral and washed away the infrastructure.

He said seven persons died, 80 houses destroyed, 136 damaged and scores of animals died during the flashfloods. Mr Jadoon said communication and irrigation were the sectors, which were badly affected by floods as 119 irrigation channels were washed away suspending water supply to the crops and orchards.

He said 38 jeepable and pedestrian suspension bridges and 34 link roads of different valleys were swept away by floods and they all needed immediate reconstruction for restoration of vehicular traffic. The deputy commissioner said 78 water supply schemes, 64 protection walls and four schools were damaged by floods.

He said 23 per cent of the standing crops and 6,454 fruit bearing trees were washed away by floods and 21 micro hydel power stations constructed by the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme damaged.

Mr Jadoon said the district administration had provided 115 non-food items and 145 food items to the flood-affected families, while NGOs, including Sarhad Rural Support Programme and Pakistan Red Crescent Society, also provided flood victims with relief goods.

He said AKRSP and Aga Khan Housing Board, components of Aga Khan Foundation, would lend financial and technical support to the administration in the rehabilitation of damaged power stations and water supply schemes. The deputy commissioner said the damage assessment report would be revised after the rainy season was over.

CHITRALIS DEMAND 30MW ELECTRICITY: Residents of Chitral on Monday demanded the establishment of a grid station at their Shaghoor village and provision of 30 megawatt electricity as royalty of the Golen Gol hydropower project.

They warned that if the demand was not met, then they would oppose the construction of a grid station in Lower Dir area of Timergara.

Former MNA from Chitral Abdul Akbar Chitrali told reporters at Peshawar Press Club that the Golen Gol hydropower station had been established in Chitral but the local residents had yet to be given its royalty.

He said the people of Chitral deserved to get at least 33 megawatt electricity from the local power station but currently, they were provided with only five megawatts of electricity, which was too little.

The former MNA warned that if the electricity generated in Chitral was supplied to the grid station in Timergara, the local residents would put up a strong resistance.

He said it was the right of the people of Chitral to have a grid station but the facility was being set up in Timergara creating unrest among them.

He warned that the people of Chitral would agitate if they were denied the supply of 30 megawatts electricity from the Golen Gol hydropower project as royalty. — Dawn Report