Neelum Valley faced with shortage of food, medicine

Road links remain suspended even weeks after the floods.

MUZAFFARABAD: Thousands of flood victims in Neelum Valley are currently faced with a shortage of food and medicine owing to the non-reconstruction of dozens of link roads that had been washed away by the floods.

The northern valley, also hit the worst by shelling from India, now faces the austere threat of power shortage as the water channel which transfers 32 megawatts of electricity from the Jagran hydro electric station was washed away in the floods.

The flood also inundated several roads linking remote villages to main towns along the main road, which had the chance of being restored several weeks after the floods.

Some 15,000 people were affected by Jagran Nullah as hundreds of houses were washed away along its banks due to heavy rains.

“We are almost starving as Rs300 is being charged for every 40 kg from Kundal Shahi to Kutton, which is 5 kilometers apart, and the poverty-stricken residents are unable to afford anything,” says Rashid Hussain, 20, a resident of the Valley who is the sole breadwinner of a family of seven, but has been unemployed for six months.

“I have purchased only a kg of rice from Kundal Shahi as I only had Rs60, but I am having a tough time carrying it to Kutton,” said Ghluam Hussian, 70, as he took some rest while on his way home. In Kutton bazaar, most of the shops have been closed down owing to a shortage in the supply of goods and residents have also been complaining of a shortage of medicines.

The Public Works Department of Azad Kashmir (PWD-AJK), which was in charge of reconstructing the roads in the flood hit valley, could only restore about 5 kms from Kundal Shahi to Kutton in three months, while the rehabilitation work on dozens of link roads in the upper part of Neelum valley has not even started.

The picturesque Neelum Valley, which lies along the Line of Control (LoC), is famous for its ancient forests and is rich in minerals and water resources. However, the possibilities of any sort of progression in the prospective region seems to have been swept away with the floods as new projects of education and health have been sidelined.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2010.