Paradoxes of rural living: Rich in natural resources, but lacking basic facilities

Locals of Nemogram village are deprived of electricity, roads and hospitals.

SWAT:

Life in the remote Nemogram village is difficult. Though the village is abundant in fruit orchards and greenery, it lacks basic facilities such as water supply, electricity, roads and hospitals.

Ismaeel Khan, a local resident, said that electric poles and wires were installed four years back, but the village rarely receives power. “After the poles were erected, we excitedly bought electrical appliances but have not unpacked them yet,” he said.

Khan said that when electricity is supplied, the voltage is so low that you cannot even charge your cell phone battery let alone run any appliance on it. “We cannot event test [the current] with a probe. We normally just hold a live wire in our hands and and the slightest jerk cues of any current flow,” he added. The only source of entertainment for the locals is the radio run on dry cells.

Located some 45 kilometres from Mingora, the village has a few springs nearby but without proper roads the villagers have to cover long distances to get water.

“Our children have no time for school as they have to carry water from morning till noon,” replied Zarin Baba, a village elder, when asked about villages’s education status. “We take turns carrying water, to help out one another with the task,” he added, pointing to a little girl carrying a pale.

Many hamlets of the village connect through dirt tracks, but some of which are cut off by shallow steams. Baba said that when it rains the streams swell and the villagers cannot even use the roads. “All link roads are in bad condition, full of stones and rubble,” he added. Baba added that because of the poor condition of road, vehicle owners abstain from going to the village even in case of an emergency.

Seeking medical aid is another problem. To reach a medical clicnic, the villagers have to travel 22 kilometres, of which around eight kilometres are covered on foot. However, to avoid long distances, the villagers rely on mobile medical dispensers, who conduct all sorts of treatments, from headaches paints to small surgeries.

“I’m waiting for a medical dispenser to return, who went to the upper hamlet. I have a huge blister on my back and want to
get it treated,” said an old feeble man sitting by a roadside. “IIt has been hurting for about two months now. I applied poultice over it but in vain.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2012.