By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: The residents of Riri village of Oveer valley have demanded of the government to check the soil erosion which can be contained by draining the water flowing underneath the village’s land surface for the last two decades.
The elites of the village Islam Akbaruddin, Abdul Majeed, Mutiur Rahman and others told media persons in Chitral Press Club here on Saturday that the water emanates from a gorge situated on the highland of the village in very large quantity and then disappears into the ground at the same place.
They said that the gravity flow of the water below the soil surface of the village causes its erosion incessantly which can be easily discerned by the growing number of fissures on the soil of the village while the houses did not withstand the process and collapsed within four to five years after their construction.
“The position of a house constructed this year will be 5 to 7 meters away downward in the inclined plane of the village after four years and cracks are appeared in the walls of the houses during the very first year of their construction.
The geologists sent by a non-governmental organization from Islamabad visited the site and confirmed that the water underneath the soil is causing the erosion of the soil and the process will stop only if the water is drained and channelized downward to the village by digging channel.
The draining of the sub-surface water will not only stop the natural hazard of erosion but also solve the issue of the shortage of water both for drinking and irrigation”, they said adding that the dwellers of the 300 plus households of the village have become weary of constructing houses after every three to four years.
They said that the village was known throughout the district for the fruit of apricot where hundreds of the varieties of the fruit were grown and the dried apricot of the village was in high demand in the market for its superb quality but the orchards of apricot are also affected badly.
They complained that due to the erosion process of the farm lands as well as the scarcity of irrigation water, the farming activity has come to naught in the village which has enhanced the intensity of poverty.
They said that the draining of the water process project is the only solution for their problem for which they have striving since the last two decades continuously but to no avail and the people will have no option but to migrate from the village.
