No medical facilities are available in parts of PoK. Besides a bag of 20 kg flour which was under Pakistani Rupees 700 (Indian rupees 350 approx.) per bag before Corona virus struck the region is now being sold at more than Pakistani Rupees 1200 a bag. Flour mills from Pakistan’s Punjab province are selling flour to PoK at extraordinary rates

NEW DELHI: Residents of parts of PoK have appealed to the Indian government to send food via Rajouri and Jammu due to acute shortage of food in the region.

No medical facilities are available in parts of PoK. Besides a bag of 20 kg flour which was under Pakistani Rupees 700 (Indian rupees 350 approx.) per bag before Corona virus struck the region is now being sold at more than Pakistani Rupees 1200 a bag. Flour mills from Pakistan’s Punjab province are selling flour to PoK at extraordinary rates.

Besides in Gilgit-Baltistan, the local government is struggling to deal with the coronavirus for want of financial support and medical infrastructure. “Chief Minister” of Gilgit-Baltistan Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman recently blamed Prime Minister Imran Khan's government for not providing sufficient technical and financial support to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

He has demanded Rs 1.75 billion from Islamabad to handle the coronavirus outbreak. The region, bordering China's Xinjiang province, has registered 234 corona cases and three deaths.

Earlier, president of the Gilgit-Baltistan chapter of Pakistan People's Party also blamed the government for holding back Rs 2.5 billion (Pak currency). Amjad Hussain said that this fund could have been diverted to cope with the emergency situation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the government had not yet spent a single penny from the development fund to provide relief to common people. Hussain said that even during the crisis priority of the government was not the people, but political projects.

The NGOs in Hunza area of Gilgit Baltistan also allege negligence in the distribution of relief materials to the needy.