WINTER PREPAREDNESS? Machil residents carry octogenarian patient on shoulders to health center

Kupwara: The non-clearance of snow from the inner roads by the authorities subjected the Machil residents to acute hardships, forcing the locals to take an octogenarian patient to Primary Health Centre (PHC) Duddi on shoulders, covering almost 9 km on foot.

The residents said that every year they are subjected to hardships due to heavy snowfall in the entire Machil sector but authorities never clear the inner link roads, putting them to hardships.

“The government has never kept men and machinery available here to clear inner roads of snow. We are unable to understand why authorities don’t keep snow clearance machines in Machil for clearing roads of snow,” Sarpanch Machil Habibullah told Greater Kashmir over phone.

He said that due to blockade of Kupwara-Machil road for the past several days, eatables had gone out of stock in Machil, causing problems for the locals.

“The authorities should take concrete steps to open the snow-covered Kupwara-Machil road so that the hardships being faced by the people end,” Habibullah said.

The residents of Machil are also anguished about the non-availability of healthcare facilities.

They said that only a single Indian System of Medicines (ISM) doctor was rendering duties at PHC Duddi, which does not address the needs of the locals.

They demanded quality healthcare, which they said was a dream for them for years. The residents sought immediate intervention of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kupwara, Doifode Sagar Dattatray in this regard so that their miseries come to an end.