Excelsior Correspondent
DODA, July 22: The vehicular movement on Batote-Kishtwar highway came to standstill when locals, parents and relatives of road accident victims held a protest against the district administration for not starting rescue operation on time to trace out the drowned persons from Chenab river near Gatsu.
The protesters, who blocked the highway, alleged that they have been waiting since 5 am at river side for administration to start the rescue operation for tracing the drowned persons but till 9 am no one reached the accident site, forcing them to block the highway.
They said that police and civil administration after suspending the rescue operation yesterday at 7 pm assured that the rescue operation to trace the victims will resume early in the morning, but no one from the civil and police department reached the accident site to fish out the bodies of the accident victim from the river.
It is to mention that, three persons including a teenager were feared dead, when the Tata Sumo they were travelling in from Chiralla to Doda plunged into river Chenab yesterday evening.
Due to protest for couple of hours, hundreds of passengers vehicles remained stranded on both sides of the highway.
“We waited patiently for 4 hours, but when DDC not even responded to our calls, we were left with no other option but to stage the protest by blocking the highway. We simply need a sincere effort to trace out the bodies of our beloved ones”, said Anayattullah Khan Chairman Panchayat Sunarthawa, Chiralla.
“This is extremely unfortunate that instead of mourning the death of our young relatives, we were compelled to come on roads and for this careless and inhuman attitude, DDC is responsible, who did not even bothered to pickup the call or came up with an assurance”, said Satish Kumar, uncle of one of the deceased.
After getting information, Tehsildar Doda and DySP Headquarters Doda Iftkhar Ahmed reached the spot and assured the protesting people of starting the rescue operation immediately with the help of experts.
On the assurance, the protesters dispersed and the vehicular movement on the highway was restored.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Doda Mohammad Shabir told the Excelsior that the rescue operation was launched today again, but bodies of the accident victims and the ill-fated vehicle could not be traced out due to overflowing of the river Chenab. “Search operation is going on and I hope that the bodies of the victims will be fished out from the Chenab river very soon”, SSP added.
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