CHITRAL: The 75-kilometre Chitral-Booni Road connecting the Upper and Lower Chitral districts is in a shambles, causing inconvenience to the commuters.

The road has been lying unattended since it was given in the control of the National Highway Authority from the communications and works department some six months ago, but no repairs have taken place ever since, as a result the road has been potholed to the agony of the users.

The bumpy road has increased the travel duration from Chitral town to Booni from two to four hours.

The passengers complained that the transporters had also increased fares due to rundown condition of the road.

Constructed in 1994 by the provincial government with the financial assistance of Asian Development Bank, the road brought about a drastic change in the socioeconomic condition of the area.

The road passes through mountainous terrains during most of its length making it vulnerable to falling rocks, boulders and mudslides.

Amirullah Khan, PPP president, Upper Chitral district, said mudslides and falling rocks had extensively damaged the road surface. He said the road had not been properly maintained for the last six years thanks to the apathy of the PTI government.

He said the C&W department had awarded contract of repair of the road many months ago but no work could be started because the road was later on transferred to the NHA, but since the authority had no office in the district no official came to take stock of the dilapidated condition of the road.

The locals feared worst in winter as there would be no one to remove snow, mudslides and rolling rocks, causing the traffic to come to a complete halt.

Executive engineer of C&W, Lower Chitral, Usman Khan told Dawn that he could not spend a penny on the road as it was now the property of NHA.

He said permission from the relevant forum was required to enable his department to carry out repair works.

He said the roads of Garam Chashma and Kalash valleys had also been given to NHA, which had been built and maintained by C&W department since 1970s.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2019