Pangi valley still cut of from the mainstream,  villagers walk on feet in snow to rescue a patient

The Resident of many villages of Pangi subdivision are living in extremely cold weather without roads and power supply. They have to walk in two feet of snow taking patients on their back for seven kilometre up to subdivision Killard headquarter of Pangi valley. 60-year-old Resi Devi, a resident of Kaurei village of Rei Panchayat, suddenly fell ill on Friday morning, taking her to the hospital became herculean task for the villagers. She required immediate hospitalization as most of the road to Pangi Valley were snowbound. It was a do and die situation for the local villagers as the curse of nature unleashing vagaries on them forcing them to survive without road, communication, and power. Since village roads are rarely looked after by the state public works department people are managing without road facility for the last three months. On Friday, villagers extended hand to evacuate sick elderly woman from Kaurai village of Panchayat Rei as they carried her on their back amidst three feet of snow. Later in the afternoon, the villagers and family members lifted her on their back and walked in three feet of snow from Rei to reach Zero Point, seven kilometers away. From where the elderly woman was taken to the Killard headquarters in a private vehicle. At Killard doctors admitted the elderly woman , her treatment is going on. Headquarter Killard is situated 25 kms from Rei. Villagers told us that apathy of politician are also responsible for their weather vagaries as their elected representatives only see their own facilities, they are not bothered by the problems of the common masses. The link road connecting the village to Pangi with the road has not yet been restored. On the other hand, Mohindra Thakur, Executive Engineer of the Public Works Department said that the contractor was informed by the department to restore the road of Rei village. The road would be restored for traffic within two days, he added.

In another similar example people of Pangwal community sent a joint letter to the Himachal Pradesh Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. They urged the government to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the Pangi valley. Being tribal area of district Chamba government should be sensitive towards their vagaries but there is contineous shortage of electricity throughout the year. Power requirements increase for the people due to freezing of the Pangi valley below zero degrees. They said that power generation comes down in the valley in winter season. At present there are four small mini hydel power projects in Pangi Valley. Mini Hydel Power Project Tai-Sural has total generation capacity of 100 KW but in winter it remains only 50 kW. Mini Hydel Power Project Mahlu Nala is having power generation of 300 KW which remains at 100 kW in winter , Mini Hydel Power Project Sach Gharat has 950 KW capacity which is only 400 kW during winters . Overall, the power output from these four power projects reduces to only 600 to 700 kW in winters against total demand of 5000 KW in the Pangi valley.