MANSEHRA(National Times)- The Islahi Committee of Lower Kohistan, a body of elders and clerics, on Sunday announced that it was suspending the ongoing blockade of the Karakoram Highway until June 12 after the district administration promised to energise the upgraded 132kV grid station.
Maulana Ahmad Ali, a member of the committee, announced the decision while speaking to the protesters assembled on the KKH.
Deputy Commissioner Zuhaib Hayat and District Police Officer Zafar Ahmad Khan were also present on the occasion.
Earlier in the day, members of the committee and the deputy commissioner reviewed the construction work on the grid station in Pattan, the district headquarters of Lower Kohistan.
“We want the early completion and functioning of the project so that the people of Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas districts can be supplied with electricity from the Dubair-Khawar powerhouse,” Mr Hayat told engineers and labourers working on the installation of equipment at the grid station.
“I expect that Wapda will swiftly complete energising the grid station and ensure electricity supply to people of both the districts until June 12,” Mr Hayat said.
The five-day-long blockade of the KKH caused immense inconvenience to the passengers travelling within the Lower Kohistan district and between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.
DESILTING: The district administration has begun removing silt and rocks from underneath the Mahandri Bridge on the Kunhar River. The bridge connects KP with GB via Kaghan Valley.
“The accumulation of silt and rocks posed a serious threat to the bridge. The desilting process will cost Rs40 million,” MPA Munir Hussain Lughmani told reporters on Sunday.
The tourism industry of Kaghan and Manoor valleys suffered a financial blow last year when flash floods swept away the central bridge on the MNJ Road in Mahandri during the monsoon rains.
“Fearing that the newly-built bridge could be washed away due to silt and rocks accumulated beneath it during the monsoon floods, we have not only started the desilting process but will also build protection walls along the riverbanks to protect the adjacent bazaar from flooding,” Mr Lughmani said.
He said that machinery had been moved in for the purpose.
He said that the government had also approved Rs100 million for the construction of a concrete bridge to replace the wooden ramp installed in the Bela Manoor area of Manoor Valley.
“This bridge will connect Manoor Valley with the MNJ Road, providing safe travel to the locals and tourists,” Mr Lughmani said. The provincial lawmaker said that the government had also approved Rs40 million for the Danna-Jarad Road to connect Jarad village with the rest of the district through the MNJ Road.
