Protests against corruption in different developmental projects continued in parts of Chitral. A sizeable protest rally led by Jounali Qazi Abdul Rauf marched from Chewo Bridge and ended up in Polo Ground. There it turned into a large public assemblage and representatives of civil society and political parties addressed the people.
Speakers said that Abdul Wali Khan Bypass was supposed to complete in 2011 and still remains incomplete. The contractor of the bypass, it turns out, is a government employee working as laboratory attendant in Government Degree College, upper Dir. As a contractor he is enjoying government support for dilly-dallying the work on the road and allegedly shares commissions with officials.
The speakers also pointed out that the bridge on Molin Goul stream near Chitral Scouts Headquarter, currently under construction, shows that it has been poorly built with substandard material. It poses threat and clearly indicates that it is not going to sustain any pressure of water or floods in summer.
They said that 340 million rupees were spent on Golian Water supply scheme.But here too, defective and cheap pipes were used in the project. People are still deprived of water. They alleged that the contractor paid huge commissions in this project to local PMA and Public Health Engineering high-ups. They demanded of the National Accountability Bureau to recover the 340 million rupees from the Public Health department corrupt officers and from the contractor.
They said that Goulian Hydel Power station would be completed next year and demanded 30 MW electricity from this project for Chitral as Chitral is passing through energy crises. They also demanded up-gradation of Saingor Power House.
A resolution was passed on the occasion where it demanded from Chairman and Director General NAB to investigate and recover the 340 million rupees of Goulain Goal project. 30 MW electricity from Goulian Hydel Power House should be allocated for Chitral and the bypass should be completed without any further delay.
source: http://www.dardistantimes.com/chitral/News/1763575980/corruption-developmental-projects-trigger-protests-chitral
