SHANGLA: Chakisar tehsil chairman Bakht Alam Khan on Wednesday alleged that provincial government ignored Shangla despite the fact that it was affected by recent rains that caused massive landslides, collapse of houses and casualties in different areas of the district.

Flanked by members of the tehsil council, he held a meeting with deputy commissioner and informed him about their grievances, especially about the distribution of food packages among the people affected by rains.

He said that revenue officials claimed that they distributed 560 food packages among deserving families but he did not see anything on the ground. He said that affected people were ignored in distribution of food packages.

“Our people have been badly affected by rains but despite lapse of two weeks they are still waiting for rehabilitation and compensation,” said the tehsil chairman.

He said that provincial government only focused on southern districts and ignored northern districts including Shangla. He said that Shangla was among the most affected districts where emergency was also imposed but government was yet to start rehabilitation work there.

Mr Khan, who is also district general secretary of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said that government should immediately provide funds for rehabilitation and compensation of the people affected by rains.

He said that federal government assisted the affected people through PML-N provincial president Amir Muqam.

RECOVERED: Shangla police handed over to its owner a stolen jeep, they recovered during checking by their vehicle verification system team the other day.

A report was lodged at Nasirabad police station in Rawalpindi about the theft of the vehicle.

A statement issued by Shangla police said that during checking they found the stolen jeep through its VVS system and booked its driver Syed Mubarak Ali Shah, a resident of Karmang, Skardu.

After the directives of the local court, police sub-divisional officer Shah Hussain handed over the jeep to its owner Tariq Iqbal, a resident of Noorpur in Khushab district. The owner thanked Shangla police for recovery of his stolen jeep.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2024