^{Part III}

��������� Concluding previous article with a note of listing projects undertaken by the incumbent Union Council Nazim, Muhammad Wazir Khan, part III of the series is presented for the learned readers. The Nazim started with a note of disappointment, not only for him but for us as well, that our Union Council was allocated an annual grant of rupees seven lacs only. I was utterly surprised when he immediately qualified his statement with the fact that this amount was equal for all the Union Councils as share from District Councils� budget. This reflects the disappointing fact of resource constraints for development projects. He was perturbed over the mismatch of people�s expectations and the state of resources. Further elaborating the point, he said that he never remained satisfied with the available share in the budget but struggled a lot to fetch a substantial amount of over twenty three million rupees from different sources during a year. Further projects costing seven million rupees are under process of approval. Following is the detail of the projects:-

��� ������� To be honest, getting projects worth over thirty million rupees during one year is not a child�s play for a Union Council Nazim of a far flung area. It requires lot of effort and dedication. Had there been yearly investment of thirty million rupees in Yarkhoon valley during the past couple of years, the picture would have been quite different today. I at least do not hesitate to appreciate his efforts.

������� However, the Nazim was of the view that his Union Council affected immensely with the collapse of three main bridges at Brep, Gazeen and Ounawich during this summer. These bridges being the main sources of communication in the valley were too important. �He narrated the plight of people and his efforts in this manner. �I want to make it clear that when the Brep Bridge was constructed somewhere in 1990s, the urgently required protection wall on Khotan Lasht side was not erected and it was never taken care of by any one later as well. When I took responsibility as Union Nazim, realizing its importance I stressed the concerned departments to build a protection wall. The work was on, when suddenly the river changed its course of flow due to high flood and the bridge, being the only opening to Yarkhoon valley collapsed. On getting this fateful information I immediately rushed to the spot. The river was in high flood with a huge quantity of water flowing outside the bridge. I helplessly came back to Chitral in disgust, held emergency meetings with the District Nazim, immediately took an Engineer there to review the situation and find out alternative to construct a pedestrian bridge and divert the flow of river. I also took the District Nazim to the area to see the plight of people. When the out flowing water slightly decreased, we immediately constructed a pedestrian bridge with a cost of two Lac rupees, followed by a temporary jeep able bridge and traffic resumed once again. The repair of the collapsed bridge was estimated sixty one Lac rupees. Funds were not available at the district level and I had to make an approach to other sources. I endeavored hard, visited provincial capital a number of times, consequently contacted National Emergency and Relief Programme (NERP) and could make it possible to release the required funds of 6.1 million rupees. Inshaallah, the bridge will be repaired within a few months. This was the best possible option which I could follow at that critical juncture. The government has its own way of functioning but the representatives are always concerned about their people. The people however, know that a damaged government property in a remote area like Yarkhoon, takes long to complete procedural zigzags and get work done. However, this was the best possible speed with which I could move the concerned departments to work. The present District Government is also effectively working to bring out the departments from following such a Luke worm approaches�.

The Nazim highlighted, �this is on the record, the initiated projects in Yarkhoon valley are much more in number than projects in any other Union Council of the District.� I am also carrying out a �Five Year Comprehensive Development Plan� for the valley to have development schemes in all sectors and all the areas. Such a blue print of envisaged projects will help in getting donor NGOs. I have a plan to construct Baroghil pass road to enable the government for actively considering it as a link to Central Asian States once Lawari tunnel work completes. I after preparing feasibility papers had a number of dialogues with Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) Chitral and Chief Executive Officer of the Aga Khan Development Network. If we succeed in this endeavour, certainly it will be beginning of a prosperous Yarkhoon valley.

When asked about the working of the District Council he replied optimistically, �there is complete harmony in the district and everything is going well. This is the result of cooperation and unity among different political fractions after the previous elections. There is a complete religious harmony and understanding of views as well. We are expecting a bright future for the district. We have made the offices of the district government open to every one. There are no barriers in the way of people to approach their representatives. District Nazim has always been very helpful to me. He visited the area a number of times and has the realization to remove injustices done to Yarkhoon valley in the past. We want all neglected parts of our district should progress. Every member of the District Council has a clear vision of �PROSPEROUS CHITRAL�.