Who will fix the shaky wooden bridge in Goharabad village of Diamer?
With reporting by Amir Jan Haqqani
The residents of Goharabad village of Diamer District have been faced with myriad problems due to lack of basic facilities. Among the biggest problems the locals are facing is the absence of proper infrastructure for moving in and out of the village.
A wooden bridge connecting Goharbad with the KKH has been in shambles for several years. Despite of hue and cries by the locals, the authorities have turned a blind eye towards the plight of the people. More than two dozen vehicles pass through the bridge everyday. The vehicles have to be offloaded on one side of the bridge in view of the vulnerable situation of the bridge. The locals, thus, have to carry loads on their back across the bridge to the other side.
“The locals have tried to repair the bridge on their own by collecting 200 rupees per household, but that meager amount was not sufficient for the mammoth task”, a local person told this scribe.
Another bridge in the same region had been damaged in the 2010 flood, after which a makeshift chairlift had been installed to help the locals in commuting. However, that makeshift chairlift (Grari) had snapped, killing eight people, including women and children.
The locals have appealed to the authorities to take notice of the Goharabad bridge and take immediate steps to fix it, because dozens of vehicles are passing through it everyday and there is a real danger of another accident taking place.
