CHITRAL: Residents of Siah Arkari village have hailed the construction of a suspension bridge over a local nullah saying it has eased their sufferings.

They told Dawn that the bridge was put up by the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme under its Central Asia Poverty Programme last year.

The villagers said the highland of the village had dozens of glaciers out of which many exploded every year due to climate change destroying infrastructure.

They said many bridges were built by the government as well as the local community on a self-help basis but they didn’t withstand glacial floods.

Sher Rustam Baig, Said Azam Shah and other villagers said the destruction of bridges separated people who struggled to attend funerals and weddings on the other side of the nullah during flooding.

“A young man working in Peshawar rushed to the village to attend his mother’s funeral but couldn’t make it to his home on the other side of the nullah after a journey of 14 hours as the bridge was washed away by floodwaters that very night. One can easily imagine his misery,” a villager said.

He said the school, basic health centre, grain godown of food department and local council were all situated on the other side of the nullah and in the absence of the bridge, residents of the other side didn’t have access to those facilities for months.

The villagers said high school students failed to attend classes for 40 days in 2022 until a makeshift pedestrian bridge over the nullah was built by the community after floodwaters eased.

They said the area produced potatoes and beans of good quality, so the bridge would help growers transport their produce to the market.

The residents said the bridge’s collapse in 2021 caused heavy losses to farmers as they couldn’t take potatoes to the market on time.

Grower Sardar Azam told Dawn that the suspension bridge had promised potato farmers smooth transportation of their produce to the market so they had resumed growing potato. He said the agriculture sector had greatly benefited from the bridge.

“Agricultural machinery will be mobilised to the other side of the nullah to improve productivity and thus, leading to development,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2024