CHITRAL: The havoc wreaked by flash floods in Chitral took another serious turn when the water supply system collapsed on Wednesday.

There was no drinking water on the day Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak visited the town to express sympathy with and support the people affected by the flood which has destroyed infrastructures and paralysed the entire area.

The crisis erupted after the Golen Gol water supply project completed only a year ago at a cost of Rs450 million by the public health engineering department developed a technical fault.

But the department’s secretary and superintending engineer Mujtaba Khan who have set up a camp in Chitral had surprisingly no knowledge about the breakdown of the water system.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) is yet to prepare a report on the damage caused to roads, drinking water supply schemes, irrigation channels and hydropower stations. A PDMA official only said the report was being finalised.

The affected people have demanded opening of major roads and restoration of water supply system and irrigation channels on an emergency basis.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, tehsil council member from Karimabad Mohammad Ali Shah expressed concern over the inordinate delay in restoration of roads and irrigation channels in Lot Koh valley. He said the farmers of the valley would suffer huge losses because potato crop would be severely affected by the lack of irrigation water, adding that intake points of irrigation channels had been swept away.

Mr Shah said the valley was also known for beans and tomatoes grown on a commercial scale and its apples and pears were supplied to the national market.

Prime Minister Sharif had an aerial view of a number of flood-hit areas, including Garam Chashma, Droshp, Shoghore, Kuragh, Kosht and Reshun.

He addressed the affected people in Kuragh, Upper Chitral, and announced a grant of Rs1billion for restoration of infrastructures.

It was his first visit to the district after assuming power two years ago. He also announced a number of development projects, including completion of the Lowari Tunnel project by the end of this year, construction of Chakdara-Chitral motorway at a cost of Rs27bn and federalisation of Chitral-Gilgit road.

He said that after the completion of the Lowari Tunnel project, Chitral airport would be given the status of an international airport while the area would be linked with China and Tajikistan to make the district an economic hub.

He said food packets would be dropped by C-130 in far-flung areas of the district and promised to look into the issue of writing off agricultural loans to provide relief to farmers.

Earlier, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said he would remain in Chitral till the restoration of the infrastructure. He said there was no dearth of financial resources for restoration of facilities in Chitral and adequate measures would be taken for timely completion of the work.

The prime minister was accompanied by KP Governor Sardar Mehtab Khan and federal ministers Pervaiz Rashid and Mushahidullah Khan.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2015

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