Chief minister visits disaster site, boats start service

PT Report

Shishkat, February 13: Boats started transporting people across the artificial lake formed on Hunza River today. Chief Minister, Syed Mehdi Shah, also visited the lake site along with other leaders and government officials. He witnessed the work being carried out by FWO and Chinese engineers on creating a spillway cut at the lake.

Earlier today Mehdi Shah refused to meet a crowd of Gojali people in Gilgit asking them to come to his office some other time. Around three hundred people had gathered near the helicopter chowk in Jutial and wanted to meet the chief minister to appraise him of the concerns of local people who are not happy with the pace of work being carried out for releasing water from the disaster lake.

The boat service is likely to end misery of the stranded people based in Aliabad and Gulmit. According to some reports reaching Pamir Times hundreds of the people stuck in Aliabad accumulated debts amounting to thousands while staying in hotels for a whole week because of unavailability of transportation services.