Clamour grows for all-weather routes to Marwa, Warwan valleys

Anantnag: As the six Warwan residents remained incommunicado for almost three days, only to be found returning home on Friday, demand for an all-weather route has again grown louder to avert frequent tragedies. The missing persons were traveling by foot from Matigwaran village of Kokernag in Anantnag district amid snowfall via Margan top, a high mountain pass.

“This route is fraught with dangers and has devoured many lives. Our long pending demand for an alternate route has fallen flat into deaf ears,” said Abdul Rouf of Warwan.

   

He was among a dozen people from the area who reached the Deputy Commissioner office in Anantnag to press for the demand.

Rouf said the road from Chatabal – Daradpora village of Shangus in Anantnag can easily connect the valleys via Choidraman.

“A tunnel from Marwa to Chatroo proposed long back would connect us to Kishtwar directly and alleviate our miseries,” said another local Firdous Ahmad Khanday. He said the precious lives are lost not only in winters but even summers due to the absence of proper road connectivity.

The twin valleys of Marwa and Warwan spread over forty villages are not yet connected to the district headquarters of Kishtwar. Hence the 95 Km long Daksum– Margan Top- Marwa road thrown open in the year 2007 and connecting it with Kokernag remains the only surface link to the outside world.

However, it is not the all-weather route and remains shut for at least six months leaving a population of around 50,000 souls cut off.

In the absence of a road facility, people have no choice but to trek to reach Kishtwar district headquarters or else wait till summer to travel via the Kokernag-Sinthan route.

But during winters also people have to travel by foot to reach the Kokernag area on the Anantnag side. With no basic facilities, several people from the twin valleys prefer to shift to Kashmir to avoid harsh winters.

They put up in rented accommodations mostly in the Kokernag area of Anantnag.

“As there are very few medical facilities in our area, patients and expecting mothers are the worst sufferers. So, we prefer to come here for six months and work as laborers,” said Muhamad Jabar.

He is putting up at a rented accommodation in Matigaawran along with his family. However, not everyone migrates as the majority stays home but makes sure to stock up all the essentials before the road gets closed.

“I buy essentials, medicines, and warm clothes for myself and family from Anantnag as the winters set in,” said Ghulam Hassan,a farmer from Marwa. He said they have to wait till June to visit Kashmir or Kishtwar district headquarters.

“ In case of exigency we are left with no choice but to travel by foot to the Anantnag side,” Hassan said. He said, there is no proper mobile facility available and they have to make calls from telephone exchange after booking it like people would do back in the 1980s. “ Life is very difficult in our part of the world with virtually no communication or electricity facilities. The harsh winters make it worse,” Hassan added.

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