Damaged land routes to northern areas: authorities directed to deliver relief goods by helicopters

President Asif Ali Zardari has directed the concerned authorities to start helicopter services to deliver relief goods to over two million stranded people in Gilgit-Baltistan as the land routes to northern areas have been completely damaged.
China has also been requested by the government to supply goods through Sost Border for meeting the demand of the local market in Gilgit and other neighbouring districts of Gilgit-Baltistan, said Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan, Syed Mehdi Shah while talking to Business Recorder on Saturday.
The president has given the directives after a meeting with the chief minister and Governor GB Shama Khalid who briefed the president about the food crisis millions of people are currently facing. As the clearance of Karakoram Highway (KKH) could take months, the flights and helicopter services were the only way to provide relief items to the people.
The chief minister said that the assessment of almost Rs 12 billion losses of the flood in various districts has been provided to the president while other issues related to the aftermath of the rains/flood were also discussed in the meeting. Responding to a question the chief minister said that the responsibility of repair and construction of KKH and bridges linking the highway has been given to Frontier Works Organisation (FWO). He, however, did not give the expected date for the clearance of KKH.
Though Babusar Road has been opened for small traffic supplying the goods from Rawalpindi to Chilas District, the closure of KKH create problems for the people. He said fuel and medicines were being supplied to Gilgit and Skardu by air but that is negligible against the demand. Despite the claims and initiatives taken by the government, sources said that people have started protesting against the prolonged closure of highways as it has paralysed their lives.
In Skardu city hundreds of people came on the road on Thursday and protested against the failure of the government to mange the supply of goods even after 25 days. They protested against the government's move to seal the petrol pumps and supply the airlifted fuel to the government employees and others.
The gravity of the situation could be imagined that a dead body of a boy was not shifted from District Hospital Skardu to a nearby village even after over 12 hours because of unavailability of fuel, sources added. People in Gilgit, Skardu, Ganche, Diamer, Hunza, Astor, Chilas, Kharmang, Shiger and Rondu and other valleys are worried and thinking how they would survive if reopening of the land route with Rawalpindi take months. The locals were also condemning the role of the district governments because they have not done anything to help the affected families. No compensation has been announced for them as yet.