3 min readJammuAug 9, 2026 06:45 AM IST
A 17-year-old girl died for want of timely medical treatment on Friday after the vehicle carrying her to a hospital in Jammu and Kashmir’s border Rajouri district remained stuck in a mudslide for several hours.
Significantly, officials said the engineers concerned had informed the administration that the road, constructed under the Prime Minister Grameen Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and damaged in recent rains, had been restored for vehicular traffic.
Rajouri District Development Commissioner Abhishek Sharma ordered an inquiry into the incident and suspended Agha Zahid Rehman, Assistant Executive Engineer of PMGSY Kalakote Sub-Division. uring the suspension period, the AEE will remain attached to the office of the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kotranka.
The Executive Engineer, PMGSY Rajouri Division, who had informed the administration that the road had been restored, has been asked to explain why disciplinary proceedings should not be initiated against him over the road’s condition.
The Additional District Development Commissioner, Rajouri, has been given seven days to conduct an inquiry.
Officials said the matter came to the administration’s notice after a video surfaced on social media alleging the girl’s death due to the closure of the Chak Methayani-Panglar-Kotecharwal road maintained under the PMGSY scheme.
They said the girl had been suffering from a disease for the past month and had been admitted to Government Medical College, Jammu, a fortnight ago.
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Quoting the girl’s father, officials said she fell ill again and was being shifted to GMC Rajouri, but the road was blocked at Chak Methyani, causing a delay of two to three hours.
With the help of local volunteers, the slide was partially cleared. But by then, her condition deteriorated and she died on the way to the hospital.
The Chak Methyani-Panglar-Kotecharwal road, the only road link connecting several remote villages in the area, was washed away near Methyani during last year’s monsoon and later restored temporarily.
The same stretch was hit by a mudslide around two weeks ago, rendering the PMGSY road unmotorable.
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However, the Executive Engineer, PMGSY Rajouri Division, informed through an official WhatsApp group that the road had been restored and was trafficable.
Following conflicting claims about the road’s status, Kotranka Additional Deputy Commissioner Dil Mir Choudhary wrote to Rajouri District Development Commissioner Abhishek Sharma on Friday evening that the road’s condition “is worst and not trafficable due to landslides and ditches”.
In an official communication, he further said that “people have to face the difficulties of the transportation of patients, food grains and fertilisers. The 108 and 102 Ambulance services are also not functional in the villages of Narala, Bamble, Kotcharwal and Panglar”.
“Despite repeated instructions issued by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir as well as this office for immediate restoration of the road damaged during recent rains, the road in question remained unattended, thereby indicating prima facie negligence and non-compliance with official directions,” the communique sent by ADC Kotranka said.
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During recent rains, border Rajouri and Poonch districts have witnessed large-scale damage to public infrastructure and private property. Nearly 28 people, most of them in Poonch district, have died in floods and landslides.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who recently toured both districts, said he would seek a special package from the Centre.