Uplift plans for Charsadda, Mardan & Chitral

Talking to a delegation of traders and other businessmen, Chief Minister Akram Durrani said that the flood affectees of Mardan will be compensated for their losses. The businessmen belonged to Mardan and hence he gave the statement regarding Mardan. Had it been the businessmen from Charsadda, he would have said the same thing about compensating Charsadda flood victims; had it been a delegation from Chitral, he would have said the same thing regarding the flood-hit people there. And maybe the CM does really mean to help the flood victims of all these districts, but this piecemeal way of announcing intent to assist does not show an organised and comprehensive plan in this matter.

The recent floods have caused great destruction in the districts of Mardan and Charsadda and Chitral and in parts of other districts in Frontier. It was tragic because much of it could have been avoided if the central and provincial governments, not just the current ones but all those in the past, had concentrated on the fact that any development activity should have been be done keeping in mind that floods could at anytime wash all or most of the material progress achieved. However, all governments � past and present � have for some unknown reasons showed averseness towards initiating development activities in all these districts, let alone providing funds for securing the little development already achieved.

The recent floods though tragic in the sense that these caused immense loss of life and property, however, do provide a chance of rebuilding the destructed areas on modern lines. The devastation has been of every kind; the whole infrastructures of Charsadda, Mardan and Chitral have been damaged and rendered unserviceable. In most instances damage has also been done to cultivatable land and would need to be redeveloped if it has to be re-used for agriculture. If both the central and provincial governments are sincere in erasing the impact of the floods in these districts, this tragedy could be turned into an opportunity to give new and better faces to these districts.

The provincial government is urged to ask for a comprehensive development plans from these district governments which should not only include compensating the affected people but also reconstructing roads, laying sewerage and freshwater pipe lines in a more modern and systematic way. Charsadda is the most fertile and productive district of Frontier and so very near the capital of Peshawar and has never been given its due share; it deserves serious planning and funding from the provincial government after such a devastation. Mardan is the second largest city of this province and has vast potential for being developed as an industrial centre; it also lags in education and health facilities. The civic facilities were almost non-existent before the floods and more so in the aftermath. Development of this district could be an economic boon to the rest of the province; hence the provincial government should make serious and planned efforts for the development of this district.

The case of Chitral is more disparate. It can be developed as a one of the most attractive tourist resorts in the world and can earn billions of dollars, not rupees, for this province and the country. But it has been kept backward since the creation of Pakistan. It is rich in rare minerals, it has a thousand sites for mini-hydropower plants and the power from these cannot only be used for residential purposes but also to run mines and mineral purifying plants, if such plants are established there.
Hopefully, the provincial government will give serious considerations to these proposals. (The Statesman editorial)

Regards

Nisar Ahmad
Pesh. University