Floods 2014: Rain wreaks havoc in Rawalpindi outskirts

Road linking area with city washed away, area falls in constituency of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

ISLAMABAD:

While the interior minister has been busy trying to save the day in the federal capital, recent rains and floods have wreaked havoc in his constituency.

Tarakhan Road, which links around 30 villages with urban Rawalpindi, was washed away in the torrential rains in the area, leaving villagers without access to the city. The area falls within Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s NA-52 constituency.

It has been two days since the link to these villages was cut off, and despite the seriousness of the situation, the administration has not made any effort to even look for a stop-gap solution. To get by, the villagers have built a precarious mud road which links to Adiala Road.

Residents of nearby villages claim they tried to contact the interior minister but to no avail. They then tried to seek help from the district administration but returned disappointed.

Haroon Bhatti, a resident of Tarakhan village, told The Express Tribune that though this is the interior minister’s constituency, the district administration has turned a blind eye to the losses incurred by the people and did nothing to address the condition of villagers.

“Four houses of our houses were completely destroyed in the floods along with the small agricultural plots we own,’ said Yasir Mehmood, another farmer hailing from Bagh Rajghan.

Raja Numaan, another resident of the village, said all off the 40-odd houses in his village had been swept away. “We had to evacuate the trapped women and children from the houses with the help of people from other villages,” he added.

Haji Gulraiz Akhtar Raja has gone from pillar-to-post to get assistance from the administration, but has gotten a cold response.

He said he has also submitted list of the affected people to the administration, but far no one has visited the area thus far.

“We also requested to Malik Riaz for help as Phase-8 of Bahria Town is next to the village, but he has also not responded yet”.

The District Coordination Officer was not available for comment despite repeated attempts.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2014.