CHITRAL: The people stranded in Mulkhow area for 10 days crossed the local river by a cable car in Muzhgol on Monday.

The area’s truckable bridge over the river was washed away by the recent flash floods.

Provided and installed by Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP), the cable car service was inaugurated by assistant commissioner Mastuj Minhasuddin and local MPA Sardar Hussain Shah, who said it was a short-term service to help the stranded people of Mulkhow and Kosht union councils.

On the occasion, SRSP district programme manager Tariq Ahmad said the cable car service would be operated by his organisation from dawn to dusk for two months.

He said the auto-powered cable car would take only 25 seconds to take people from one side of the

river to the other and that its expenses would be borne by his organisation.

Tariq Ahmad said the devastating floods across the district had restricted the movement of the people by destroying more than

People cross river after being stranded in Mulkhow for 10 days

100 suspension bridges and therefore, installation of cable car was the only option to help the marooned people.

He said in view of the urgency, the SRSP had managed to install cable cars at five different places of upper and lower Warijun, Kuragh, Kosht and Shoghore to the benefit of thousands of people.

On the occasion, local MPA Sardar Hussain Shah appreciated the Pakistan Army and non-governmental organisations for providing speedy relief to flood victims in the area.

He said the stranded people of Mulkhow had no access to the hospital in Booni, while edible items had also run out in the area and therefore, the cable car had provided them with an access to the outer world after a gap of two weeks.

Shah demanded early rehabilitation of flood victims as well as irrigation channels, roads, bridges, small hydropower stations and drinking water supply schemes.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-i-Islami provincial chief Professor Mohammad Ibrahim on Tuesday said being a small partner in the provincial government, his party would try its level best to rehabilitate physical infrastructures damaged by the flash floods in Chitral.

He was addressing people in flood-hit areas of Chitral, including Ayun, Broze, Mori Bala and Reshun.

The JI leader claimed his party’s workers were the first to approach Chitral’s flood victims in the hour of distress.

He said farmers would lose cereal crops, vegetables and fruit orchards, the main source of their sustenance, in case of any delay in the restoration of irrigation channels.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2015

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