BAJAUR: Bajaur deputy commissioner Shahid Ali Khan has ordered the early construction of an alternative route to link to the main Bajaur-Mardan Road after a key bridge over the Jar River here was damaged in floods, suspending traffic on the artery.

He issued the directives while speaking to the officials of the road and highway department, Frontier Works Organisation and the district administration during a visit to the site, according to a statement issued here on Sunday.

The bridge was closed to traffic on October 21.

He directed the officials to make all-out efforts to complete the route at the earliest because the transporters and commuters were facing inconvenience as the closure of the bridge forced them to use the far-off Hayati bypass to connect with the Bajaur-Mardan highway.

The DC was told that diversion of water channel and levelling of the ground caused the delay in completion of the alternative route.

Meanwhile, transporters and commuters on Sunday expressed their displeasure over the delay in completion of the stretch of the road.

Talking to reporters, they alleged that construction work on the route, which the authorities claimed to be completed in the third week of November, was going at a snail’s pace.

They said unnecessary delay in completion of the road forced them to use the Hayati bypass that was long and unsafe.

They demanded the early completion of work on the alternative route to ease people’s suffering.

ARRESTED WORKERS: Thirty-three PTI workers from Bajaur district are among the hundreds of party activists arrested during the crackdown in Islamabad on Nov 26.

Talking to reporters here, PTI MPAs Dr Hamidur Rahman and Anwarzeb Khan said 13 of them belonged to PK-19 and 20 to PK-20 constituency.

The lawmakers, who led the convoys of hundreds of PTI workers to the party’s protest in the federal capital, claimed efforts were underway for the early release of the arrested workers.

“Their cases have been assigned to the party’s legal teams,” they said.

They mentioned that the arrested activists were the valuable asset of PTI and that they would make all-out efforts for their early release.

The PTI lawmakers issued the names and details of the arrested workers after they were criticised on social media for not making any effort to secure their release.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2024