Residents of Tehsil Mulkoh staged a token hunger strike against suspension of work on Athak Irrigation Channel

The residents of Tehsil Mulkoh staged a token hunger strike against suspension  of work on Athak Irrigation Channel, here in Chitral town. The protesters told this reporter that thousands of acres of land can be made cultivable by constructing the irrigation water channel, benefiting around 60,000 residents of the border Tehsil. Work on the important water channel has been suspended since 2008 without any clear reason. It is pertinent to note that the federal government had released 429 million rupees for the project. [Gul Hammad Farooqi]