Man stages protest for all-weather road for remote Marwah in J&K

Jammu: Carrying a placard containing various demands and keeping his eyes blindfolded, a social activist from remote Marwah in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district stood in protest for several hours here to press for all-weather road connectivity and power supply for the area.

Rouf-ul-Islam had covered nearly 250 kilometres from his home to Jammu to highlight the problems being faced by the residents of the Marwah sub-division comprising three tehsils of Marwah, Dechhan and Warwan which remain cut off for over six months annually owing to heavy snowfall during winter.

"My only purpose for the protest is to invite the attention of the government including Union minister Nitin Gadkari and our Member Parliament Jitendra Singh to mitigate our sufferings due to the lack of all-weather road connectivity," he said.

Marwah is connected to south Kashmir's Anantnag district through Margan pass road which, however, remains open only for a couple of months during summer. "Our sub-division has no roads, no electricity and no telecommunication…We are living in abject poverty. Many a times over the years, we raised our plight with the concerned quarters and many a times surveys were conducted for ensuring all-weather road connectivity but nothing was done till date," Islam said.

Claiming that a tunnel of about five kilometers from Chhatroo to Marwah can provide an all-weather road by connecting the sub-division with Kishtwar district headquarters, the social activist said they were hopeful of getting the tunnel during the recent visit of Gadkari, the Union Minister for Roads and Highways, but were left disappointed with no mention of any project for them.