Barren land made cultivable in Dolomuch

Gul Hamaad Farooqi

CHITRAL: The Soil and Water Conservation Department is converting 102 acres barren land at Dolomuch  into a cultivable space. The project covers one water plant, four check dams, land leveling, terracing and plantation of 4,000 olive trees, 3,000 wild plants and 2,000 fruit trees.

Director General of the department Muhammad Yasin Wazir inaugurated the plantation campaign by planting an olive tree in the area. 

Talking to Chitral Today correspondent, the owner of the land retired Colonel Shahzada Muhammad Sharif said: “We visited  the offices of the water management and many other departments for many times but remained disappointed. Later, we approached the office of the Soil and Water Conservation Department Chitral by writing a simple application, they sent their technical team and started work on it immediately.”

Colonel Sharif said if all the departments started working diligently and honestly like the Soil and Water Conservation, the barren land of Pakistan can be cultivated and other development works can also be completed on time.

DG Wazir said before this it was a slope and barren land and we worked on it and made it under cultivation and re also planting olive, almonds, pomegranate and other fruit plants  here. He said it will not only benefit the landowners financially but will also promote tourism as it will attract wildlife and colourful birds. Moreover, it will also have a very positive impact on the environment.

Mujibur Rehman, who is the district officer of the department, added that this year 8,000 kanals of barren land were being made cultivated in Chitral on which they will plant  fruit and wild plants.

People can also grow vegetables and get financial benefit from the project by selling fresh and dry fruits. He said that for this purpose any landlord can come to our office and submit a simple application, after our department will bear 80 per cent of the expenses while the farmer contributes only 20pc of the total cost.

Prince Shuja Riazuddin said this land was barren and now soil and water conservation team visited the area and bringing it under cultivation.