Gojal: Waiting for the boats donated by USAID
Islamabad, December 5: The USAID has donated two emergency boats for the patients of Gojal Valley who are forced to travel in unsafe and open boats in extremely low temperature through the dammed Hunza River, en-route to hospitals in Aliabad and Gilgit. Despite of a lapse of several months, the boats have so far not been able to start services in the region, for murky reasons.
An official told this reporter on the condition of anonymity that the boats had been handed over to the current Chief Secretary of Gilgit-Baltistan at a ceremony held at a dockyard in Karachi several months back. He also added that some officials had to be sent to Karachi for a special training to be able to operate the boats which are equipped with emergency hospital facility also. However, so far no progress has been made in this regard, leaving the patients at the mercy of cold weather.
The Rescue 1122 has been operating two rubber boats in the river, transporting patients to and from the Gojal Valley but the service is not suitable for cold weather because the boats are not covered and they are unable to operate when the wind is strong. There are also fears that the emergency boat service operated by Rescue 1122 will come to a halt once the water starts freezing.
The local people have demanded of the Chief Minister, Speaker GBLA, MLA Mutabiat Shah and the Chief Secretary to take notice of the delays and utilize the boats that have already been provided by a donor.
“The government has failed in providing us health services in the region and now they are also using delaying tactics for ambiguous reasons”, Ahmad Khan, a resident of Gojal valley said, referring to the boats. He also appealed to the USAID to take notice of the situation and help the distressed community.
pamirtimes, can you please send one of your reporter to cheif secretary office to remind him because our MLAs are not going to do so, atleast a journalist can try.
Thank you.
I think even though USAID does some things good, but must be careful ..if you let to many U.S. things into Gilgit-Baltistan, they will try to erase your culture, language. . . یہ ایک حقیقت ہے. یہ اس طرح نہیں اتا, لیکن اب کچھ وقت کے بعد. ہے. ہے. I am very serious. Here in Toronto, the Jewish hierarchy has most people from India, Pakistan and all other Asian nations here basically keeping their cultures in the closet except for , ofcourse, the once a year trip where everyone pulls it out for one day, then disappears for the rest of the year. . . I am also from China, and I remember Siks and Muslims from Pakistan and Rajastan in China saying to me, well, that East Indians and Muslims in Canada are not real Asiatic Peoples, 1% Asian and 99% Jewish. I will say that is certainly true here. There is always a CATCH to receiving aid from UN, USAID, ASEAN, any ot those agencies want to slowly, gradually, very deceptively ruin your culture. Be careful what you sign. یہ بہت سنگین درست ہے.