Locals move rocks and earth to build link road

Residents have no means of communication and no basic health unit, they climb steep hills to fetch drinking water

SWAT:

For two years now, residents of some 12 hamlets living scattered in the lap of the richly historical Najigram valley, have been digging through rock and hard earth to build a link road to connect them with the rest of Swat.

Divided into groups, some dig up the earth, while others break stones. Their colleagues remove the rubble to clear the way. The hard-at-work people have decided to pitch in their efforts to construct a road to connect their hamlets to the rest of Swat.

Deprived of every basic facility, about 500 families in these hamlets are engaged in farming, selling milk or wood from the forests. They have no means of communication and no basic health unit, nor schools. They climb steep hills to fetch drinking water from springs.

Bakht Roz, a resident of Tokar Banda, who was working with others to dig up the link road, said, “The major issue is that of taking patients to hospitals in towns. We carry patients tied to rope beds on our shoulders, traversing six kilometres (km) on foot to reach the main Najigram valley, from where we have to hire a vehicle to reach a hospital.” Patients in critical condition frequently die on their way to the hospital, he added.

The dirt tracks leading to their hamlets are only two feet wide which are hard to traverse during the rain. Mobility of residents of Koz Druj Gar, Bar Druj Gar, Koza Battai Banda, Barra Battai Banda, Mah band Sar, Katta Mah Band, Bara Samsarey, Koza Samsarey, Jakkar Banda, Sharghashi Banda, Nerai Banda, Kabaj Banda and Tokar Banda  is thus severely limited.

Nakhshey, 70, an elder of the Mah Band Sar, who was supervising the communities working on the link road, told The Express Tribune, “We have constituted two teams. While one group is engaged in working on the link road, the other, takes wood, poultry and other items to towns to sell. With the money, they buy food for these workers, he added. “This has been going on for two years now.”

According to locals, they contacted many government and non-governmental organisations for support but they were turned down. “I don’t remember the government or any organisation initiating a development scheme in our area,” said Saleem Khan.

“There are many springs and streams located at great heights from which water can be supplied to us, provided pipelines are installed in our hamlets. Our longstanding issues of water supply can easily resolved, but since we are very poor and marginalised, we cannot manage this on our own,” said Shah Zarin.

Only a two-km stretch of the six-km link road, which is considered to be a lifeline for more than 500 households, has been dug up by locals so far. Despite the odds, volunteers are working away tirelessly, determined to complete the road, whatever it takes.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2012.