ISLAMABAD: Chitral's request for C-130 plane: People stranded in valley
By Zar Alam Khan
ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: The district government of Chitral has appealed to the federal government for C-130 planes on an emergency basis to transport relief goods to the Boroghil area in the north of the valley
, which remains cut off from the district due to heavy snowfall.
District Nazim Shahzada Mohiuddin told Dawn on phone that due to unusual heavy snowfall since October over 4,000 people of the area had been living in over 10-foot-deep snow. He said the affected people needed food items, medicines and fodder. Hundreds of cattle, including 500 yaks, have perished, he added.
He said when he approached President Gen Pervez Musharraf, the federal government dispatched to the district relief goods enough for the people for over three months.
He said the government had also provided them two M1-17 helicopters for transportation of the relief goods to the affected area about 280km north of the town. However, he said the government did not provide fuel for the helicopters and on his request the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme gave them fuel from its local stock.
The nazim said due to unavailability of fuel in the district the relief items were lying at the Chitral airport as the two choppers had stopped operation after three to four sorties.
He said due to remoteness of the affected area, the district government needed C-130 planes to provide help to the stranded people on time. It is for the second time that the area had seen such a heavy snowfall. In the 1970s, the federal government had dropped food items and fodder for the affected people using C-130 planes.
The upper valleys of the district suffered heavy damages in terms of losses of livestock, breakdown of communication and transportation links disrupting utility and food supplies to the valleys.
