THE JEEP-ABLE BRIDGE AT YAKHDEEZ IN UPPER CHITRAL BRINGS FACILITIES AND JOYS TO THE VILLAGERS
CHITRAL; The residents of Yakhdeez village in Khot valley of Upper Chitral are rejoiced over the connection of their hitherto forlorn and marginalized village with the rest of the valley by road which became possible after construction of jeep-able bridge over the stream.
Terming the bridge as the ‘game changer’ for the village, they said that it provided them with facilities in all sectors of development ranging from communication to health and education as well as agriculture because the facilities were connected to the facility of road.
Expressing their deep-felt gratitude to Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, they said that the organization accomplished this project through its Central Asian Poverty Programme which made their dreams a reality and brought comforts in their lives.
The facility had provided road facility to the village consisting of more than 300 households whose dwellers had to travel on feet for one-and-half hour on the hilly and narrow track to reach the valley road situated on the side of the stream.
The village used to remain completely from disconnected from the other parts of the valley during the summer season when the pedestrian bridge was washed away by the flash floods triggered by torrential rains and during these days, they had to walk for more than five hours on feet to have a bridge at Buzund village.
“In this age of advancement, we had to take our patients and injured on a stretcher to the valley road while going to the hospital or coming back with a coffin in case of death”, says Nasiruddin, a school teacher by profession. He said that every year many people including pregnant women died because they could not be timely shifted to the hospital.
The residents said that all the facilities including schools, primary healthcare facility, grain godown of food department, post office are located on the other side of the stream which were not easily accessible for the villagers.
Saifud Din, a shopkeeper in the village, said that the prices of commodities have reduced as previously the consignments were transported by the labours on their back thereby increasing the cost of transportation while the road has solved the issue.
Saqib Ali Khan and Abid Ali Khan, college students from the village, told this scribe that the bridge facility had provided the youoth of the village with access to the play ground of the valley and it was a great boon for them.
