DC’s house to affect flights in Chitral, CAA tells govt

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), in a letter, has conveyed to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti that flight operations from Chitral could be suspended if construction of residence by Chitral deputy commissioner Rehmatullah Wazir near the airport’s runway is not stopped.

An official of the provincial government told Dawn that that the letter was sent by CAA director general Air Marshal (retired) Khalid Chaudhry with  the subject “Violation of NACP (National Airfield Clearance Policy) at Chitral Airport by Mr Rehmatullah Wazir, DCO (now deputy commissioner) Chitral”.

He said that the letter was sent on Jan 9 and now Mr Hoti had sought details of the matter from the provincial chief secretary.

“It will not be out of place to mention that should the violation of NACP continues, the CAA would be within its right to stop air operations from Chitral to ensure the safety of precious lives,” the letter states.

The controversy emerged in June last year when Mr Wazir started construction of his house near the runway, which the CAA claimed was in the danger zone and against the policy.

Presently, the Chitral district and sessions judge has issued an interim order in favour of the DC restraining the CAA from taking any action against him.

The DC claimed that he was owner of the land and did not require any no objection certificate from the CAA. He has pointed out in his suit that several buildings had already been constructed in the same area and the CAA had either issued them NOC or it remained silent. He added that the attitude of CAA was discriminatory towards the plaintiff.

“Your kind attention is invited to a very sensitive issue, wherein DCO Chitral has started construction of his house on the edge of runway of the Chitral Airport in June 2012 in complete violation of NAF Policy thereby endangering safety of flight operations at Chitral,” the letter states.

Govt to relax flour mill ban for Chitral

The landlocked Chitral district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is set to have its first flour mill as the provincial government is likely to relax its ban on setting up new mills.
Sources have told Dawn that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is reviewing its prolonged ban on new flour mills in the province as it is giving a serious thought to relax the restriction as a special case for Chitral.
“Chitral needs and deserves to have a flour mill, improving wheat flour distribution system for the benefit its people,” said a senior official of the provincial government.
According to sources, the provincial industries department has moved a summary to Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti with the recommendation to lift the ban allowing the establishment of a flour mill in Chitral.
This will be a major policy shift as the district has an age-old wheat and wheat flour distribution system.
The provincial government, according to business circles in Peshawar, controls the distribution of wheat in Chitral.
It has godowns in all the 24 union councils of the district from where wheat is sold to general public on controlled prices.
Wheat provided from the official godowns is grinded in the privately owned watermills to extract the flour.
“The system has its flawed as certain political elements used it to their benefits, making money out of it,” said a Peshawar-based businessman.
He said the district certainly needed to have, at least, one flour mill to produce wheat flour locally.
The district has a total population of around 400,000 and apart from meeting the local wheat flour consumption requirements through the distribution of wheat from the official godowns, a significant amount of wheat-flour is procured privately from Upper Dir and other parts of down the country to fulfill the people’s consumption needs.
The officials told Dawn that the chief minister had consented to lifting the flour mill ban only for Chitral and it would become official once the industries department received the permission from the chief minister secretariat.