Baramulla: With scores of frontier villages continuing to remain cut off from the main town of Uri following heavy snowfall, people have to carry patients, particularly pregnant women on makeshift cots for several miles to reach the hospital or back home.
A family member joined by his neighbors, had to trek several miles to ferry Nasreena Begum along with her twins to frontier village Silpathari Nambla C after she was discharged from the Uri hospital.
“We had to carry the patient on a makeshift cot to the hospital and back home after she gave birth to twins in Uri hospital. The 2-kilometer road from Nambla C to Shilpathar is closed for the last eight days,” said Deputy Sarpanch Nambla C Noor Alam.
Sarpanch Churanda Lal Din said that Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) department has miserably failed to clear the snow from the road due to which people have to foot and trek miles and patients face a tough time in the absence of vehicular movement.
“PMGSY has failed to clear the snow and slides from roads due to which vehicles can’t ply on the roads,” he added.
This was the third time that villagers of Silpathar Nambla C were seen carrying a patient on a makeshift stretcher as the road that connects the village with Uri Town remains closed to traffic for the last eight days due to the presence of snow.
Like Silpathar, roads of several other frontier villages remain blocked as concerned departments have failed to do proper snow clearance and remove slides triggered by snow and rains.
The affected villages include Silpathar Nambla, Hathlanga, Charunda, Darakunjan, Dudran, and Chotali.
Khursheed Ahmad Mir, AEE PMGSY Uri, said that their men and machinery are on the job. “We have cleared most of the roads while the clearance work is also going on in the remaining villages. We expect all the roads to be cleared very soon,” the AEE said.
Inhabitants of the areas have appealed to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and DC Baramulla to intervene in the matter.
