The residents of Lajbok Darra in Lower Dir have criticised the government and local lawmakers for ignoring their area in development schemes.
They said that there was serious shortage of health and education facilities in their town, which has a population of about 35,000.
During a visit to the scenic hilly area, the residents, including Hazrat Hussain, Syed Kamal, Umar Mohammad and Khairul Haq, told this correspondent that the MNA and MPA elected from the area had been ignoring Lajbok Darra for the last five years.
They said that two teachers had been running the only local girls’ middle school where 350 students were enrolled. “Our daughters go to school, but there is no staff to teach them,” said Syed Kamal. He alleged that one of the two teachers often remained absent from duty and in routine the school was run by one teacher. The residents said that the girl’s middle school had been upgraded to high level, but people of the adjacent village had got a stay against its construction. They said that majority of girls had to give up education after passing the eighth class examination. They demanded of the government to appoint sufficient teaching staff in the school.
They said that a medical technician and lady health visitor were running the basic health unit of Lajbok and that they had never seen any medical officer or lady doctor in the BHU. Besides, the hospital lacked medicines and labour room facility. The area people said that they had to take their patients to Timergara.
The 35 kilometres Lajbok-Timergara was in dilapidated condition and no repair work had been done during last 10 years.
Another problem is that of deforestation. They said that the forest was owned by local people and they had been cutting decades-old trees of pines for their domestic needs. The residents said that they were ready to make an agreement with the forest department for preservation of the forest.
The area people demanded of the government to resolve their problems on urgent basis.
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