The reconstruction and improvement of link road and suspension bridge to relieve the residents of Rech valley in Upper Chitral of the ordeals
CHITRAL: “I had to walk to the valley road situated on the other side of the river after walking for forty minutes and it was not less than an ordeal for me while travel to and from the village with my infant child carrying in my arms coupled with the luggage.
I sighed a sigh of relief when the construction of the link road completed and I embarked a jeep in the doorstep of my home and sat on the seat with my child in my lap and my luggage beside me and reached the valley road in just 12 minutes”, says Asifa Murad of Sorech village who travels frequently in connection with her job.
She said that with the improvement and widening of the road by AKRSP under its Central Asia Poverty Programme , life had become too easy for them as the villagers started enjoying many ‘facilities’ due to the road and women folk were the major beneficiary of the artery.
Talking to this scribe, the villagers Lal Zaman Shah, Dili Khan, Gulab Shah, Said Muhammad Shah, FaizurRehaman and others enumerated the benefits and comforts which they derived after the road was widened and improved and the bridge over the river was also constructed in an elevated position making it resilient to the high flood in the river in summer season.
They said that many decades ago, the link road was constructed by the villagers on self-help basis but the drivers dreaded to ply on the road due to its narrowness and the poor condition of the bridge.
Enumerating the benefits of the project, the villagers said that it had changed their lives overwhelmingly in all sectors of life ranging from agriculture to health thereby reducing poverty level.
They said that shifting the patients and the injured from the valley road to the village and the way round was a major problem while shifting to hospital or home was a major problem for which they used stretchers to carry it on their shoulders.
The high cost of transport to the village caused to escalate the prices of the commodities of daily use in the shops of the village due to the high cost of transportation which escalated due to it.
The villagers are highly indebted to AKRSP for coming to their help in generous manner to connect their village with the valley road while it was next to impossible to carry out the work on self-help basis due to its high cost and financial incapacity of the residents to contribute to it.
The crucial road connected with the bridge made the mechanized farming possible in the village as the mobilization of tractors, thrashers and other machineries became possible which has led to raise the yield per acre thereby alleviating poverty.
