CHITRAL: Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Power Taj Mohammad Khan has said that an amount of Rs2 billion has been earmarked for setting up small hydropower projects in 21 districts.
Addressing a gathering in Kalash valley Bumburate after inaugurating a mini hydropower project, he said that the project of promoting small hydropower was being extended to 21 districts keeping in view the success of its first phase in 11 districts of the province.
He said that development of the hydropower potential was a part of ‘clean and green Pakistan’ vision envisaged by Prime Minister Imran Khan. It was not only environment-friendly but also cheaper, he added.
A HERD of Kashmir markhor grazing on a grassy field near Chitral town. Photo by writer
THE only veterinary hospital of the city was swarmed by young people from a nearby village. Tears could be seen in the eyes of most of them; they had just rescued a Kashmir markhor of about four years that had been trapped on a steep cliff, at considerable risk to their own lives. During the rescue operation, the markhor had sustained injures and had been rushed to hospital, while the villagers had gathered there out of concern for the animal’s health.
Such a high degree of their attachment to the animal’s welfare and zeal for conservation of wildlife can only be attributed to the provision of markhors’ trophy hunting, which brings them a heavy dividend in the shape of permit fee. Once declared as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the wild goat is no longer threatened with extinction in Chitral, where its population has increased sufficiently fo