Whenever one hears the name of Balochistan, their mind diverts to the natural resources that Allah Almighty has blessed the province with. Be it gold or copper, coal or gas, the province is blessed with all these essential resources.
Besides the natural resource, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is often perceived as a bright future of Balochistan and its poor people. This Project, which is a part of China’s Built and Road Initiative (BRT) often remains in limelight due to its regional importance.
Notwithstanding, if one analyses the reality, they will find the resources-rich Balochistan at the last category in every aspect of life. Be it stagnated-economy, widespread prevalent corruption, rising terrorism, rising inflation, lowest literacy rate, gender disparity, extreme poverty, the province is in a complete chaos. Specially the vulnerability of the infrastructure, highways and roads are at the peak of destruction.
Eventhough the facts and figures of various statistics show that the rate of casualties that take place in the wake of fatal road-accidents is much greater than that of terrorism, still our leaders are pretending to be involved in the so-called fight to curb terrorism, but are heedless towards other issues which, in fact, require to be solved immediately.
Amid the rapidly increasing cases of noval Corona Virus, also known as COVID19, there were alarming threats of its outbreak in Hub Chowki. So, we had no other option left but to leave for our village in Awaran district, Balochistan.
After coming back from Awaran, I tried to pen down my journey of Awaran through Bela-Hoshab road, as I could not do it in Awaran_ given the unavailability of internet connection over there. It is perhaps not an exaggeration to say that the road to Awaran is so rough and difficult. This is the only road that connects Awaran with the major cities including; Karachi, Quetta, Khuzdar, The Costal Highway, Lasbela District and so on. This road adjoins the RCD Highway, also known as National Highway N25_ the highway which is itself a death trap at Bela.
Each time I travel to Awaran, the journey gets more longer and more tiresome. Generally, the roads need to be renovated after a particular period of time, but this road has been left untouched since it was constructed decades ago.
Awaran is a district in the south of Balochistan. It was created as a separate district in November 1992; but previously it was a sub-division of Khuzdar District. The old name of Awaran was Kolwa. District Awaran covers Maskhay, Jhaoo and Awaran.
Awaran is the least developed district of Balochistan across various aspects_ given the negligence and corruptness of successive rulers. Most of the population of the district have agriculture and transport as their profession. The importance of the role that highways and roads play in the extension of economy and prosperity of a region is well-known. Specially for a good transport system proper roads and highways are of vital importance. But, as Balochistan suffers from plethora of other intractable problems and hurdles in the path of its progress, so does it from lack of roads and highways.
The Bela-Hoshab road is now less than an opportunity of prosperity for Awaran, but, in fact, it has now converted into a trap that leads towards death. Each year, when heavy rains lash the District, heavy floods and rivers rip the road apart and there is no proper system arranged to save the road from floods.The broken bridges and potholed road have now become the cause of rapidly increasing accidents and casualties.
Every year, we lose hundreds of precious lives due to the fatal accidents that take place on this road. Furthermore, this road has also affected the economy and progress af Awaran. As mentioned above, transport is the profession of the major portion of the population of Awaran. Given the vulnerable condition the of road, it takes the transporters more than a day or two for the conveyance of their goods to the the particular region, which consumes their time as well as petrol and diesel.
Apart from that, as there is no department for emergency cases, nor is there any facility available viś-a-viś the department in the DHQ Hospital_ the only hospital in Awaran District. Very often the critical patients are directed by doctors to be taken to Karachi for their further treatment. And those patients succumb to death even just after embarking on this long and tiresome journey.
Furthermore, this broken and fully potholed road has also been a reason in the increase in maternal mortality rate, as the unfortunate patients breathe the last before reaching to any hospital in Karachi, given the unavailability facilities in Awaran for such cases to be handled.
Even though if one develops the symptoms of Corona Virus, his or her blood sample requires to be sent to karachi for the test, as there is lack of testing kits and other requirements in the only hospital. And rough and broken as the road towards Karachi is, it takes more than a week to get the result. No one cares if the patient dies even before getting the result. Still, the rulers are heedless and busy misleading the masses by making pledges that they always forget to keep.
We are now tired of listening to the absurd and ridiculous rhetorics of our so-called rulers, and so are we by our efforts of making them realise their responsibilities. Still, the concerned authorities never bother to show some honesty towards their responsibilities.
Nonetheless, it is once again a humble request to provincial government as well as to the federal cabinet to be sincere with this province which is deprived of very basic facilities of life. The incumbent government should face the reality and listen to the plea of the poor people of Balochistan and convert the pledges that it keeps making into actual actions.
We want actions in letters and spirit, we are sick and tired of their speeches that are ineffective and promises that are mere rhetorics, which are only limited to papers. It is requested to the concerned authorities that it is the time to wake up, be responsible and alleviate the sufferings of the unfortunate public of Balochistan.
