Floodwater starts receding: Sheringal-Dir road reopened for traffic

PESHAWAR: The situation in the flood-affected areas of Upper Dir started returning to normal as floodwater was seen receding and the road from Sheringal to Dir and Peshawar was reopened for traffic on Sunday.

Many houses and buildings located along the river banks were washed away by the natural calamity.

The elders said huge finances would be needed to rehabilitate the destroyed structure.

They said floods had affected the entire region but all the government machinery was focusing on the people in the Chief Minister’s constituency.

The elders opposed the constitution of a committee under the supervision of the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA, Sibghatullah, complaining that the elected MPAs from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) were ignored.

They said the government should not play politics on the flood issue and include the PPP MPA Bacha Saleh in the committee as his constituency had

been affected by the flash floods and rains. The elders called for including JI MPA Inayatullah

and PPP MPA Sanaullah in the committee.

They said it was astonishing to note that the PTI leaders had been included in the committee but the members from other parties were kept out of the

committee.

Tehsil Wari Chairman Aaeenullah, and Latifullah whose constituencies were stated to be 80 kilometres away from the flood-affected areas were taken into the committee but Sheringal and Kalkot tehsils chairmen who were from PPP and JI had been not considered.

The PPP MPA Bacha Saleh complained that the PTI government in its nine-year government had ignored him and his constituency.

He demanded an impartial inquiry to know the fact as to why his people were neglected and why not a single project was approved for his constituency.

The legislator said there would have been no losses had the government approved a water shed and protective walls along the river sides.

He pointed out that the chief minister always assured him to include his developmental schemes in the Annual Development Programme but that was not done.

But the elders including Gul Rang Shah, Abdur Rashid, and Malik Azizur Rehman alleged that the PTI workers sent messages

to PTI Chairman Imran Khan to pressurize Mahmood Khan to

exclude the opposition MPAs’ developmental projects from

the ADP.

They said the chief minister had approved the construction of Kumrat Road and a girls’

school in PK-10 but the schemes were later removed from the

ADP due to PTI activists’

opposition.

The elders alleged that some funds meant for their constituency were later diverted to Swabi through Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai.