Maidan residents decry lack of facilities

TIRAH (Khyber district): The residents in Maidan in Tirah valley, a far-flung area in Khyber tribal district, have been facing a host of problems despite the claims of the government to have allocated huge funds for the development of the militancy-hit area.

Local elders, Malik Inayat Afridi, Abdul Wahid Afridi, Muhammad Saleem Afridi, Imran Afridi, Muhammad Saeed Khan Afridi and others told The News that former governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan had announced to establish a D-type hospital in Maidan five years ago but it has not been completed yet.

They said that thousands of displaced families were still waiting for the provision of the health facilities in the area. The people are facing problems as the government did not focus on ensuring amenities such as health, education and drinking water to the local people. “At least 0.5 million people live in Bara and Tirah valley but there is no basic health unit (BHU) or a dispensary in Maidan,” a tribal elder Muhammad Saleem said. He said the government has not provided facilities to Maidan despite the announcements by former governors Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan and Iqbal Zafar Jhagra.

The elder added that houses, schools and business centres had been destroyed during militancy and many people are still living without shelter and health facilities.

“We have to take our patients, especially delivery-related cases to Orakzai and Kurram tribal districts due to non-availability of health facilities,” Imran Afridi told.

Expressing concern over the indifferent attitude of the government, he said a number of patients had died on the way to hospitals in Peshawar and Kohat owing to the long distance.

He said the provincial government had not launched a single project for the militancy-affected people in Bara since the merger of ex-Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Imran Afridi maintained that the provincial Minister for Health Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan and others have not bothered to visit the Tirah valley to ensure the provision of health facilities there.

“There is no denying the fact that the government set up a number of BHUs and dispensaries in Maidan but there is no building on the ground while the landlords and owners have been drawing money from the government exchequer,” he added.

“The lawmakers elected from this constituency have not spent a single penny of their development funds in Tirah,” he claimed, adding the PTI-led government has also failed to provide amenities to the merged districts.

“The previous government launched development schemes, including hospitals, schools and roads in Maidan, and allocated huge funds for them,” Imran added, urging the government to complete the ongoing uplift projects.