SHANGLA: Flood victims of Lodhar village of Kana tehsil here have complained about not receiving any government assistance.

They told reporters on Monday that the government had yet to start any relief activity in the area. They pointed out that rains and subsequent floods had extensively damaged their houses, roads, bridges and mini power houses.

They said roads connecting their village with rest of the district were washed away in floods, forcing them to carry patients to hospitals in charpoys.

Resident Gul Rang Zada said floods damaged his house and small power stations. He said the 2019 floods had also caused extensive damage in his village, and the area had hardly recovered from the catastrophe when another disaster struck.

Mr Zada, who is also a village councillor, said the media and the government only focused on tourist hotspots and forgot that Shangla was also affected by floods.

Resident Rahimullah said after destruction of his house his family was living with relatives. He urged the government to start rehabilitation work in their area and also provide them with relief items, particularly medicines, as their children were suffering from diarrhea.

Resident Misri Shah said his house was washed away in floods, adding officials of only non-government organisations visited the area to assess damage.

He recalled that after being disappointed with the government, the villagers had rehabilitated the infrastructure battered by the 2019 floods on self-help basis.

When contacted, Shangla deputy commissioner Ziaur Rehman told Dawn that relief activities continued across the district, besides rehabilitation of major roads.

He said payment of compensation to the affected families would take time as damage assessment continued in the district.

Meanwhile, Bisham assistant commissioner Mohammad Jawad Asif on Monday fined a shopkeeper for buying relief items from a resident of Kohistan.

He told Dawn that he had received information that residents of Kohistan were selling relief items in the Bisham Bazaar, and some traders had bought the items from them.

He said a raid was made on a shoe shop and the owner was arrested for buying shoes, given in relief, from a resident of Kohistan.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2022