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Residents of Baroghil demand compensation
By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: The residents of Baroghil have demanded of the
government to compensate them the losses they received as a result
of the cancellation of Barghil festival at the eleventh hour by the
government when all its preparations were standing completed.
Talking to our correspondent here on Monday, the nazim of union
council Yarkhun, Mohammad Wazir Khan and other stake holders said
that they were busy in preparations for the last five months to
make the event a great success and millions of rupees had been
spent already. They said that situated at a distance of 250 kms
from the district headquarters, the area is backward and its
residents were abject poor where there no farming was possible due
to its climatic conditions and high altitude. They said that
livestock keeping was the only source of livelihood in the area
while the residents of the area had determined their area to
exposition of the outsiders including foreigners to promote tourism
so that new sources on generating income could be explored. They
said that the area is abundantly rich in natural beauty and has
fabulous sources of attraction for the tourists, as that is why the
federal government had included the festival in the calendar of
events of ‘Visit Pakistan Year’ in 2007. They said that the
festival was also named as the “Yak Festival” as the animal was the
only source of income for the local population. Yak polo, yak race,
horse polo, buz kashi and cultural show would be main events at the
festival. They alleged that some hidden forces became active then
and the festival was celebrated with a very low profile. They said
that this year, the people were determined to make the event a
great and impressive event on self-help basis, which was to
commence from 20th July soon after the Shandur festival, but the
government imposed ban on the basis of lame excuse. This time,
however, Wetland Project, Pakistan and Chitral Association for
Mountainous Areas Tourism (CAMAT), a local NGO of the stakeholders
of tourism industry were jointly sponsoring the festival. The
manager of CAMAT, Shamsuddin said that individuals and parties had
invested a large sum of money for different stalls in the venue of
the festival while its cancellation has caused them irrecoverable
loss. He said that the ministry of tourism should compensate the
individuals, the NGOs and the residents of the area for canceling
the festival.
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Chitral Peshawar road closed for all kind of
trafic
By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: Chitral-Peshawar road is closed for all kinds of
vehicular traffic as a result of flash floods after the torrential
rains in the Chitral side of Lowari Pass which swept away more than
5 kms of the road, sources said. Hundreds of passengers coming to
Chitral experienced great difficulty as they had to travel on feet
in the flooded area. Sources said that the road may be cleared of
debris. However, work on the Lowari rail tunnel project did not
stop due to the flood, sources in the project said.
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