Government urged to expedite work on lake

by Zulfiqar Ali Khan

HUNZA, Jan 26: The newly formed coordination committee of the affected people of Gojal living in Central Hunza in a press conference in Aliabad demanded of the Government and National Disaster Management authority to expedite the work on the release of water from the Lake formed on Hunza river due to the devastating land slide of Jan 4.

They expressed their dissatisfaction over the pace of work on the release of water and said further delays could inundate the whole settlement of Ayeenabad and lower parts of Shishkat and Gulmit. “FWO has given a deadline of 45 days but it has not yet established its camp and moved machineries at the site”, they said. “The people have had bad experience with the past maintenance work of Frontier Works Organisation”, they suspected of the 45 days deadline.

They demanded of the Government to declare Gojal as disaster hit area and provide facilities accordingly.  The immediate threatened families of Ayeenabad should be provided relief like other IDPs and immediately compensated for the loss of their whole properties, they further demanded. They said the Government should provided facts and figures regarding the disaster in order to avoid panic due to different rumours.

They demanded to provide free transportation to the People of Gojal 2 if the helicopter service to Sost is discontinued.  The Khunjerab Pass should be immediately opened and subsidies to be provided on food, fuel and other essential items, they said. The administration should control the rates of fuel and transportation, they further demanded.  

They appreciated the helicopter service provided by the Government and demanded to continue the service till the opening of KKH. 

It is here to mention that like other cities the people of Gojal living in Central Hunza have formed a coordination committee in order to facilitate different organisation in the disaster situation and raise Amin Khan from Shimshal is the convenor whereas Haider Tai, Rehan Shah, Muhammad Pannah and others are occupying other positions.