PESHAWAR, Sept 1: The residents of Kalam area in Swat district have offered to barter their vegetables for wheat flour, ghee and sugar if anyone can supply the items to them as the same have become the rarest commodities in the area.

Shamsul Haq, an elder of the area, told this correspondent by telephone on Wednesday that the locals were self-sufficient in vegetables but wheat flour, ghee and sugar were not available there.

About the relief items, he said that during the past one month his nine-member family had got only a 20-kg bag of wheat flour. “We are lucky enough as we have maize crop to meet our requirements,” he added.

The people, he said, had the only option to use boiled vegetable or fruits for survival. The potatoes, which are sold at Rs80 per kilogram in Peshawar, are available at Rs10 per kilogram in Kalam.

“Peas are sole at Rs20 to Rs25 per kilogram, cucumbers at Rs10, tomatoes at Rs20, fresh beans at Rs20, beef at Rs200 and mutton at Rs250 to 300 while cauliflower and turnips are available free of cost,” he said.

He said that peach and plums got rotten and could not be transported from the farms to markets. “The people eat whatever they can and the rest of all get wasted,” Mr Haq said.

He said that residents of Kalam did not need relief items but they wanted restoration of road link so that they could shift their families to safer places in the down districts or stock food items, which could meet their needs for winter season.

“We fear that the government will leave us when snowfall starts in November and December,” he said and demanded of the government to take the issues seriously and save lives of thousands of stranded people.

He said that the local people had started reconstruction of Kalam-Mingora Road but the government did not support them in provision of heavy machinery despite the fact that they did not want wages.

Mr Haq said that an NGO had promised to pay wages to them for reconstructing the road but the people refused to accept wages.