Elected representatives blamed for post-flood crisis

CHITRAL: While the floods in Chitral devastated road infrastructure and private properties, people are in a crisis after elected representatives failed to come to their rescue.

So far, neither any relief is reaching to the affected people nor could the government departments repair the main road linking upper Chitral with the rest of the district which has been damaged near Kuragh.

On the other hand, the civil administration seems at disarray or sidelined as all resources and decision-making powers have been delegated to the army. To add to the miseries of not only the flood-hit areas but also the whole populace, the army is not accessible to the masses while the local administration seemed helpless and powerless.

Talking to ChitralToday, prominent personality of Chitral, Dr Inayatullah Faizi, whose village of Balim has also been affected, blamed the elected representatives of Chitral for their total incompetency and failure to comprehend the intensity of the crisis and deal with it. He said during the visit to the area by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, the MNA and the two MPAs demanded that all the relief and reconstruction work should be handed over to the army.

He said now after the KP government signed a MoU with the army, the civilian administration has become redundant and unable to carry out any relief work. He said the local administration even does not have money to purchase fuel and the whole area is facing a crisis. The sale points of the food department have stock of wheat but due to the unavailability of electricity the people are unable to grind the wheat.

He said the four megawatt powerhouse at Reshun has been damaged and would need at least six months for repair. He said the civil administration should be given the authority to purchase oil to run generators and vehicular traffic in the area.

Dr Faizi said the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had become a white element and because of its callous attitude the damaged bridge at Kuragh could not be reconstructed even after about two weeks.

He said the NDMA had not allowed even the local people to repair the road saying it would bring an army contractor to start the work. Dr Faizi also said that deserving people, especially women, children and the sick, were not being airlifted from the Booni helipad. He said on Tuesday a polio-stricken person, other patients, women and children could not be airlifted from the helipad.