|
|
|
| October 15, 2005 | Saturday | Ramzan 10, 1426 |
Many roads remain blocked, says PMAP
PESHAWAR, Oct 14: Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) on Friday called upon the government to provide heavy machinery for opening all link roads in the quake-hit districts of the NWFP in order to speed up the relief and rescue operation there.
The party’s provincial chief, Muktiar Yousafzai, told a press conference here that most of the affected areas of the NWFP had been cut off in the aftermath of last week’s quake which virtually crippled all roads leading to these areas.
Heavy machinery should be provided to these areas in order to open the blocked roads and ensure fast mobilization of rescue and relief activities, he said.
Mr Yousufzai urged donors to provide tents to quake victims on a priority basis as large numbers of displaced people were living out in the open and braving winter temperatures. He criticized the central and provincial governments for not approaching sooner the quake-affected people in the far-flung parts of affected districts of NWFP.
He lashed out at the federal and provincial governments for not providing security to the convoys carrying relief goods for the quake victims and said that gangs of robbers had stolen truck-loads of relief goods along the way.
About 80 per cent of the villages in Batagram district alone had been completely destroyed while thousands of people were lying under the debris of houses awaiting government assistance, he said. Almost all the official buildings in the area had been destroyed because substandard material had been used in their construction.
He criticized both the governments for their mismanagement and inefficiency as they have failed so far to open the main roads linking the affected districts with other parts of the country.
For much too long, the PMAP leader said, the central government had made Margalla Towers the focus of its relief operation.
The government should have given greater attention to the rescue of people in the Northern Areas and the plight of survivors, he said.
He stressed the need for evolving a mechanism for better coordination in carrying out relief activities and urged the central government to take precautionary measures so that the threat of natural disasters could be minimized in future. —PPI
|
|
|
|
