SWAT: The residents of different villages between Bahrain and Kalam said on Wednesday that they were completely cut off from the rest of the district.

They said that they did not receive any relief despite being badly affected by the floods. “Our areas fall between Bahrain and Kalam that’s why we remain unnoticed and completely ignored,” they said.

Talking to this scribe by telephone, Malik Aurangzeb, Malik Mumtaz and Tariq Hussain Zeb, the elders of Aryana, Kedam, Gurnai, Chumgharai, Mankyal, Asrait, Laikot and Peshmal, said that the recent flood affected their villages badly.

They said that the flood washed away hundreds of houses and the only link road from Bahrain to their areas due to which they were completely cut off from the rest of the world. They said that they were still in a state of insecurity even after passing of four days.

People residing between Bahrain and Kalam complain about acute shortage of food items

“We see helicopters full of relief items flying to Kalam and Utror, but no one thinks about us. People will die due to shortage of food items if we remain unnoticed for one more day. Children in the areas are starving,” they said.

The villagers said that they were short of food items, clean drinking water and medicines. They said that roads, bridges and houses were washed away by flood in their areas.

“So far, no government representative, not even the tehsil chairman, has visited our areas,” they said. They demanded of Peshawar corps commander, chief minister and prime minister to take notice of their ordeal and start rescue and relief operations in their areas immediately.

Meanwhile, the residents of Gabral also appealed to the government and non-governmental organisations for provision of immediate relief.

Talking to this scribe, Malak Zubair and Mohammad Ali, two local elders, said that Gabral and Gujjar Gabral were 90 per cent destroyed by the flood where about 80 houses and shops were washed away while more than 100 houses were partially destroyed.

“Our village received only 20 bags of flour when one helicopter brought the relief. After that our people are lying under the open sky and without food,” they said. They appealed to the district administration to send them food as well as non-food items otherwise people would die of food shortage.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2022