Non-construction of road: Villagers threaten to block Darband-Oghi road

MANSEHRA: The dwellers of several villages on Tuesday threatened to block the Darband-Oghi road to traffic for an indefinite period if work on the blacktopping of Dewal Galli road was not launched within a week.

“A woman has delivered dead twins in the absence of the medical assistance in a jeep transporting her to a health facility through the Dewal Galli’s dangerous bumpy road,” Abdul Razzaq, the former tehsil councillor, told reporters in Oghi.

Flanked by Mohammad Arif, the jeep driver of the vehicle in which a woman delivered the dead twins, and a group of locals, Abdul Razzaq said that as 8km Dewal Galli to Darband roads was in a highly dangerous condition and a jeep drivers charge over Rs4000 to take patients or passengers to Darband.

The ex-tehsil councillor said that residents of Dewal Galli and dozens of their villages had taken that road issue with the local lawmakers but to no avail.

“If this road is blacktopped, one reach Darband and Oghi in 20 minutes and such unfortunate incidents would never happen again,” Razzaq said. Speaking on the occasion, jeep driver Muhammad Arif said that they couldn’t take patients timely to the hospitals because of the dangerous condition of the roads.

“The woman is also in a critical condition after the incident as she lost her twins having no access to health facilities,” he said.