Mastuj: Residents of Booni protest against corruption, demand transfer of Deputy Commissioner
Gul Hammad Farooqi
Chitral, December 5: Residents of Booni in the Mastuj sub-division of Chitral district, some 75km from staged a protest demonstration, to condemn what they called embazzlement of millions of rupees in projects run by the Communication and Works Department (C &W), Irrigation, Public Health Engineering and Sarhad Hydro Development Organization (SHYDO).
Addressing the sit-in, the speakers expressed concern over alleged misappropriation of millions of rupees in these departments. They said that C&W department has shown Mastuj and Torkho roads as black-top establishments on paper but the road stands in a dilapidated condition, with big ditches, which are causing road accidents.
Holding placards inscribed with slogans, the protesters listened to fiery speeches. The speakers said that irrigation channels have been damaged and the Irrigation Department has spent millions of rupees on paper about completion of irrigation channel, without doing anything on the ground.
People of Booni faced great loss since 2002 to 2008 due to damaging of that irrigation channel but they were not compensated. They said that a Truck able bridge has been started a few years back and the department has assured that it will be completed within 6 months but work goes very slow and it still incomplete. They said that according to papers around 7.5 million rupees have been spent on water supply scheme in 1990 by Public Health Engineering department at Raeen village but there is no a singe pipe and people are still searching for potable drinking water.
They said that C&W department has reserved land for construction of the road but neither are they constructing road nor allowing the people to cultivate it without any compensation. They also lamented poor performance of SHYDO department that a large number of people still deprived from electricity.
