People dependent on horses, palanquin to reach hospital
Excelsior Correspondent
SAMBA, Sept 24 : It may sound incredible but is a fact that though being 62 kms away from Capital City of Jammu the twin Hamlets of Jeed and Handred in Sumb block of Samba district san the road connectivity even 73 years after the independence with the result the people are still dependent on horses or mules to go to Sumb or other places even in emergency.
The residents of the area while taking the authorities at the helm of affairs to task said that the twin hamlets were constantly neglected by the successive governments since 1947 and they were never considered under any Central or State Government schemes meant for road connectivity despite repeated pleas to concerned authorities and public representatives.
They said people of the twin hamlets face problems especially when some person falls ill seriously and when a pregnant woman develops labour pain. “We have no alternative to shift them to hospital Sumb except by taking them either on horse back or by using Palanquin”, they added.
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A pregnant woman from the hilly village of Handred yesterday suddenly developed labour pain and she was to be brought from Handred to Government Hospital Sumb which is a distance of 10 kilometres.
The foot path to the village is bumpy and people have to climb two hill locks in the way. The path is so bad that it is difficult to walk over it. It can be reached only by horse and mule. Seeing the delicate condition of the pregnant woman, Panch Bhag Singh of the village with the help of some of the youth put her in the palanquin and brought her to the Government hospital Sumb. The woman from the hospital was taken in an ambulance to the District Hospital Samba. She was accompanied by a nurse from Sumb Hospital.
The Panch Bhag Singh said that although it has been 73 years since independence, but the people of Jeed -Handred are still dependent on horses and mules. The roads are being built for the people in the Prime Minister’s rural schemes. But there is no road connectivity to these two hamlets comprising of about 100 families. This is the whole hilly belt, which falls on the other side of Basantar, river, he added.
The Panch said that there were many proposals for the road construction. But nothing has happened yet. Due to which people who live here face a lot of trouble. “In case of a snake bite or some other problem, it becomes difficult to reach the hospital. In many such cases earlier pregnant women have died on their way to hospital, he added.
The people of the twin hamlets have requested the administration to construct the road as early as possible so that they do not face any problem in future.
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