Marwah, Warwan areas suffer due to lack of connectivity
Amir Karim Tantray
Tribune News Service
Doda, August 11
While the country is moving towards becoming an IT, space and economic superpower, the Marwah, Warwan and Dachan areas of Kishtwar district are still in stone age where people are suffering due to lack of connectivity with other parts.
Marwah, a subdivision of Kishtwar district, is around 74 km from the district headquarters. The road connectivity is only up to 30 km while the rest (50 km) is yet to be constructed. Warwan, a tehsil, is around 105 km from Kishtwar and a similar situation prevails here. Both the areas are hilly and for around six months, these remain covered in snow and people face many hardships. The population of the area is over 50,000.
People still use mules to take food items to their houses. Students and unemployed youth have to go to urban areas to get updates on examinations and for employment.
“At present, we have only the police and Army, who are actually working on the ground in the Marwah, Dachan and Warwan areas whereas all other departments are running camp offices in Kishtwar town. The hospitals in the area are without doctors and equipment. Officials of the rural development department don’t stay back in our area because they don’t get Internet and mobile connectivity here,” said Sheikh Zafarullah, convener of Marwah Bachao Tehreek, who is spearheading a movement seeking opening of government departments in far-flung areas.
Zafarullah, along with hundreds of youth from the Marwah region, has been demanding installation of mobile phone towers in the area to boost connectivity. “But neither the district administration nor mobile phone companies seem to be interested in our demand,” he said.
For the past fortnight, a few youth of the Marwah area had been on a hunger strike. They were demanding basic human rights of living with dignity and connectivity with the outside world.
“All tall claims of the government of taking technology to the doorstep of people fall flat in the Marwah region where people are not connected with rest of the world,” he added.
Zaffarullah blamed all previous elected representatives of the Kishtwar Assembly constituency and the Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat of failing to do justice with the area. He warned of a mass movement against the leaders in the forthcoming Assembly elections.
