Dr. AB Qayoom
SRINAGAR: No bridge over troubled water in Karen where two tribal villages Karen payeen and Bala remain cutoff. An estimated 5,000 tribal residents along the "Kashir Khata" Nalla near river Neelam/Kishan Ganga of LoC sector in Karen area of border district Kupwara have no access to healthcare, education, livelihood, administration and communication. All because the promised bridge over the nallah Kashir Khata has been under construction for the past 06 years and still remains incomplete.
Local Elected BDC Mohd Syed told HEADLINSTODAY,with the different type of monsoons in border area even the meagre health services such as vaccinations and regular health check ups of sick and pregnant women come to a halt due to lack of transport. It is risky to travel by a horse are a car through this Nallah.Haji Mohd Afzal a local senior returied teacher and a social worker said, that he had seen many people die because of the delay in getting them to the healthcare facility.
"The 2 villages which are on the other side of the Nallah are cut off from this part of the Karen and people have to trek for many hours in hilly terrain to reach the health centre.The problem is even worse during the winter season," Bilal Ah khan another local 10th standard student said.
As many as Our 5000 people have no access to basic facilities like healthcare, education, administration, livelihood, and communication especially.They remain cutoff as a bridge that can connect them to the ‘mainland’ is under construction for the past 06years and yet to see the light of the day.
Running Nallah are the only means of transportation and during the winter and comming summer season, our villages are marooned. According to villagers, despite decades of electoral promises, nothing has changed. “The bridge construction work which began almost 06years ago is yet to be completed. The work is not happening at all.
The contractors who were tasked with building the bridge dropped their equipment and left,” Mumtaz Ah Khan, a local pravite teacher said,Education is the worst affected in the area, he added. Healthcare workers at the health centre in Karen village tell the same story.
The telephonic network is so bad that there are times even the news of someone’s demise in the far flung villages takes days to reach the relatives.
Mohd Ashrif Joo another resident said“ The situation is worse for women, children and the elderly. “we have to cross the Nallah through a temporary dead wood based bridge to get to the health centre, and often there are pregnant women with me. I fear for their lives as the water in the river is so turbulent that we fear the dead wood may capsize,” he added.With the monsoons, even the meagre health services such as vaccinations and regular health check ups of sick and pregnant women come to a halt due to lack of transport.
It is risky to travel by dead wood in those months, she added. A govt surveyor from a private telecommunication company who had arrived in Karen to survey the terrain, told HEADLINES TODAY that it was almost impossible for an outsider to survive in the area.
The trek to reach the government facilities on the other side of the Nallah takes so much time. “I have come here from srinagar.
People told,We just want a bridge to be constructed as soon as possible, It will make it easier for us to access basic facilities like livelihood and healthcare,” local PRI members,“The trek to reach the government facilities on the other side of the Nalla takes one full day. The bridge is extremely crucial for the tribal inhabitants to get their fundamental rights,” they added.
However they urged the government to direct the authorities concerned to ensure completion of the bridge at the earliest, so that people may not face any inconvenience anymore.
While talking to HEADLINES TODAY Deputy commissioner Kupwara Dr.Doifode Sagar said,the pending work of said bridge is also under concentration of district administration.In this regard R&B department handover the panding work to concern agency SCOPE.Meanwhile Farooq Ahmad Exn R&B division Kupwara told,the pending work on the project will be started within a One month.
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