Teen girl dies waiting for treatment as mudslide blocks Rajouri road

On Friday, a 17-year-old girl passed away due to the lack of timely medical care in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir. The vehicle transporting her to a hospital became immobilized in a mudslide for several hours. District officials revealed that the road, funded under the Prime Minister Grameen Sadak Yojana and previously damaged by recent rains, had been restored for vehicle traffic.

District Development Commissioner Abhishek Sharma initiated an inquiry into the incident and suspended Assistant Executive Engineer Agha Zahid Rehman of the PMGSY Kalakote Sub-Division. The Executive Engineer of the PMGSY Rajouri Division, who had reported the road's restoration, was asked to clarify why disciplinary action should not be taken against him due to the road's condition.

The Additional District Development Commissioner Rajouri was given seven days to conduct an inquiry. The incident came to light after a video surfaced on social media alleging the girl's death due to the closure of a PMGSY-maintained road. The girl had been hospitalized for a month and was shifted to Government Medical College, Jammu, two weeks ago.

Her father stated that she fell ill again and was being transferred to GMC Rajouri, but the road's blockage at Chak Methyani caused a delay of two to three hours. Local volunteers partially cleared the slide, but by then, the girl's condition had worsened, leading to her death en route to the hospital. The Chak Methyani-Panglar-Kotecharwal road, the sole connection for remote villages, was washed away during last year's monsoon and briefly restored before being struck by a mudslide approximately two weeks ago, rendering the PMGSY road impassable.

Executive Engineer Rajouri Division had informed through a WhatsApp group that the road had been restored and was accessible. However, Kotranka Additional Deputy Commissioner Dil Mir Choudhary wrote to Rajouri District Development Commissioner Abhishek Sharma, alleging that the road remained in a "worst" condition due to landslides and ditches, causing difficulties in transporting patients, food grains, and fertilizers.

Despite repeated instructions from the Government of Jammu and Kashmir and the district office for immediate repairs, the road remained unattended, suggesting potential negligence and non-compliance with official directives. Recent rains in border Rajouri and Poonch districts caused extensive damage to public infrastructure and private property, resulting in the deaths of nearly 28 people, primarily in Poonch district.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who recently visited both districts, pledged to seek a special package from the Center.