Golen valley inaccessible even after a week

CHITRAL: Golen valley is still inaccessible even a week after flash floods cut it off from rest of Chitral.

Rescue 1122 staffers have been on their toes, since the July 13 glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) washed away roads and bridges, by installing temporary bridges over streams and helping people move around.

But without assistance, most of the people are unable to cross these temporary bridges while streams are still in a high flood.

Due to the blocked road, relief supplies could not reach the affected people of scores of villages.

A social worker of the area, retired Subedar Muhammad Khan, told ChitralToday that people in the area had run out of essential food items while grocery shops could not be replenished with essentials due to the road blockade.

He said watermills and pipelines had also been damaged due to which there was a shortage of flour as well as drinking water.

Moreover, irrigation canals have been washed away due to which standing crops are drying.

Meanwhile, the locals of Golen demanded restoration of the water supply lines and the main road to the area. They said due to the blocked road, philanthropists were unable to reach out to the people needing help.

They said the road from bridge No 1 to 2 had been washed away while the road from bridge No 3 to the fish farm was also damaged.

The reconstruction of the portions of the road is not possible without availability of heavy machinery.

They said the government should take proper action without further delay otherwise the area would land in an unimaginable crisis.–Muhkam Uddin Ayuni