Shimla, Sept. 14 -- Residents of remote Malana village in Kullu district are facing food shortage after the wooden bridge on the ravine was washed away in the floods this year, making meeting the daily needs a struggle for the villagers. The village with a population of 3,000 has run out of ration. The government ration depot in the village has been closed since July. The villagers have now sought the intervention of the deputy commissioner, Kullu, urging the administration to airdrop ration. The villagers walked through a steep, narrow footpath to reach Kullu to submit the memorandum. Apart from air dropping ration, the villagers have urged the district administration to construct a "strong and permanent iron bridge at the earliest to connect Nerang with Malana" while seeking repair of the road leading to Malana urgently so that essential services can reach the village. The villagers also demanded that one primary health centre/dispensary should be established in the village. The problems of the villagers started when on August 1, 2024, the road leading to the village was washed away due to the bursting of the Malana Dam thus cutting the village from other parts of Kullu and even after a year, the road connectivity has not been restored. The road from Jari to Malana was washed away last year, but this time during the rains, even the footpaths and trails are not left, making the commute extremely dangerous. As a temporary measure, the villagers had made a wooden bridge, but that too was washed away this year. "Ration vegetables, potatoes, onions, shampoo, soap, every item is getting three to four times more expensive. The situation in the village is such that 90% of the people are about to run out of ration. There is neither electricity nor water in the village for the last 20 days. Footpaths have also been damaged due to landslides," said Bhag Chand of Malana village. Another villager, Roop Singh, said, "For the last one year, there is neither a road here nor are people getting ration on time in the village. But now the problems have escalated". Deputy commissioner, Kullu, Torul S Raveesh said, "We had two different delegations meeting us. The ration is available through PDS at the ration shop in the village." She said "The approach road to the cableway span was damaged so instructions have been issued to the department concerned to ensure connectivity at the earliest."...