A District without Infrastructure – By: Shah Karez Khan
The erstwhile Chitral District was bifurcated to make a new District of Upper Chitral in July, 2018 covering an area of 8392 sq km. The population of Upper Chitral was 195,528 according to statistics of 2023. The financial resources were also divided on the basis of population thus Lower Chitral having larger population, must have carried a bigger piece of the pie. One can hope the Upper Chitral district, now in its sixth year, must be in a position to make its own independent annual budget. After all two districts cannot run in the budget for one.
Though meagre in financial resources at this point in time, the Upper Chitral has bright prospects. For one, it connects with Gilgit-Baltistan via Shandur top. The under construction Gilgit-Chitral Express Way has a promising future being the CPECT route that will open trade relations with China as well as with the Central Asian States and Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. Historically, Broghol in Upper Chitral has served as the gateway for the pilgrims and the trade caravans from Khutan, Kashghar and Central Asia to enter British India, and onward to Mecca introducing locals with ideas for barter trade.
The Upper Chitral is also rich in natural resources. Surrounded by Hindukush and Hinduraj, it boasts of accommodating majority of the 20 peaks in this range above 20000 ft, apart from Terichmir the highest in this range at 25230 ft. Excluding Terichmir, all of the other peaks are unexplored due to limited number of expedition teams visiting the area. Chitral is a valley of glaciers in that there are 525 glaciers, most of these are located in Upper Chitral. Rivers of Yarkhoon, Laspur, Torkhow and Terich valleys are the main tributaries of Chitral River. The Upper Chitral is where one can have easy access to fresh water reservoirs.
The area is said to be home to several mineral resources, unfortunately no tangible progress seems to have been achieved in the exploration and exploitation of the hidden wealth.
Hospitality, self esteem, rugged beauty, pure Khow and Wakhi culture, four distinct seasons, wonderful treks leading to Yasin, Ghizer, Ishkoman valleys and Wakhan corridor in the north, are the hallmarks of this area. Shandur the highest pologround on earth is located here. Shandur festival is a regular annual event, which has gained international fame. Upper Chitral is a cherished tourist destination with fascinating landscapes and geographical features, green valleys, and biodiversity.
Jubilation, with drum beating and dances, was observed when the government announced giving status of a separate district to Upper Chitral in 2018. Little they knew that it was a traditional political slogan. Despite the PTI government having created this new district and remaining in power for several years now, the people of this orphan district are still waiting for any tangible positive developmental change. It is pathetic to note that several announced projects including the road of Booni upto Kruijunali are left incomplete.
Unfortunately, this area has lagged far behind in several aspects. The following are the main issues that need to be addressed earnestly:
- Road Infra-structure: The network of roads including the main Shandur Road and bridges are still in shambles. Most of the local roads connecting different villages to the main valley are made or maintained by the communities on self help basis that only serve emergency purposes and not safe for easy flow of traffic. Development will remain a far cry unless Shandur Pass Road, Broghol Pass Road, Buni to Khot Road, Lot Ovir to Terich Road and all other villages are not interconnected for safe passage.
- Upgrading the Capacity of Line Departments: The new district is yet to be made functional by the presence of full fledged departments that are necessary at the district level. Obviously the weak functioning of the nation building departments in a district or the absence thereof, can have long term consequences perpetuating cycles of poverty, inequality, and underdevelopment. The departments that exist in Booni lack functionality in some way or the other. The offices are still in make shift accommodations, employees are crammed into rented buildings having no sufficient spaces, and most of the staff have no official residences. They are demotivated and some officials do not have any tangible work to do apparently for financial constraints and want of other resources. The government is just wasting the energies of the employees and meagre financial resources without having the desired output. For example, the projects undertaken and completed by the Fisheries, Youth, Irrigation, Livestock, Agriculture, Mining, Sports, or Public Health Departments, are less known to the public.
Ironically enough, the new district was created for Upper Chitral but the new jobs were created in Lower District, since most of the employees in the erstwhile Chitral district belonged to Upper Chitral, so they were simply asked to move to their home district-a travesty of parity.
The government is requested to strengthen the existing nation building departments by providing them with purpose built accommodation, necessary budgets and logistics to enable them take up developmental activities. The heads of the line departments are requested to plan and implement their activities in collaboration with the communities they are supposed to serve. This is the only tested, effective and less costly way to achieve the goals of sustainable development. Last but not the least, accountability and transparency must be ensured at all levels.
- Shifting to Green Energy: Despite having abundance of green energy sources such as Hydel and Solar, this part of the country remains in dark due to frequent load shedding. Yarkhoon, Laspur, Terich and Torkhow rivers and their tributary streams provide ideal locations for hydro-power generation. Likewise in several places solar plants can be installed. This in itself will save environmental degradation as the communities will stop cutting trees for fuel if they have sufficient energy from green sources to meet their domestic requirement.
- Disaster Risk Reduction: There are more glaciers than the number of villages in Chitral, most of these are located in the upper Chitral area. In the wake of climate change and global warming, one can imagine about the situation in fragile places like Chitral where the glaciers are so rapidly melting causing floods every year. Several famous villages have been badly damaged during the period from 2001-2023 by Glacial Lake Outburst and flash floods affecting the sources of livelihood of the people. The villages of Yarkhoonlasht, Pawur, Urkhan, Mergram I & II, Brep, Khuzh, Sonoghur, Buni, Reshun, Muzhgole, Rayeen, and Terich valley, to name a few, are among those most affected. GLOFs and flash floods have become new-normal in Brep, Reshun, Buni by repetition each year. There is no District Disaster Management Authority or the Agency for the Environment. The provincial government must take serious notice of this and urgently prepare plans to minimize the disastrous effects by dredging the flood courses on emergency footing. Strict regulations are required to implement environmental conservation practices in collaboration with the communities.
- Environmental Conservation: Water uplifting through green energy projects and massive afforestation will surely help to stabilize the soil and normalize local climatic conditions. If you can’t do afforestation in all places, which is a must, please do it in Qaqlasht alone to see its healthy effects. Protect the region’s wild life through trophy hunting and revive the traditional conservation practices such as ‘Saq’ in pasture management, natural forest and non timber forest products. Construct check dams to manage rain run off water. These activities can easily be done through Village Organizations and Local Support Organizations with back up support of the concerned line departments.
- Preparing youth for the future: We need a shift from the traditional education stream. Our education system needs reorientation to address the unemployment challenges of the future. We are now in the era of Artificial Intelligence. Gainful skills of the future include digital literacy, software applications data analysis, computer programming, machine learning skills, cloud based computing skills, cyber security related skills, problem solving skills, project management skills, adaptability skills, emotional intelligence, environmental science, Language skills and so on. Our Educational Planners have an uphill task ahead
- Digital Connectivity: There are frequent and serious complaints about connectivity problems in the existing mobile networks. Improving communication by expanding internet and mobile network coverage is the need of the day. This will not only help ease life for the general public but also necessary for students and particularly for those who need access to information and e-commerce opportunities.
- Promotion of Eco-Tourism: Tourism is a great source of employment and income generation. Tourist facilities such as guest houses need to be promoted in the valleys. To avoid negative impacts of badly managed tourism, experts advise to promote ecotourism. The local festivals are great booster products. Similarly winter sports and cultural tourism has potential in Upper Chitral. Cultural sensitivities must be kept in mind while developing new tourism products. If tourism is properly managed it will bring economic boon, or else, it will be a bane.
- Health Care: The district has yet to expand and upgrade the Booni hospital to cater for health services at least at par with other districts if not better.
Public funds, sufficient to meet the developmental needs, do not find their way to the farthest end of the country called Upper Chitral. Its backwardness truly represents the English proverb, ‘Out of sight, out of mind’.
