November 10, 2003	Monday	Ramazan 14, 1424

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GILGIT, Nov 9: The five districts of the Northern Areas are undergoing cold spells with the onset of winter where mercury has dropped to one degree Celsius. But there are no adequate fuel supplies to cope with the dropping temperatures, the residents said.

Some areas particularly Astore, Upper Hunza, Baltistan and hilly border villages of Ghizer have also received snowfall and life has come to a standstill, the reports obtained by telephone said.

The residents in these areas said that in winters they were without firewood and they had no alternative fuel means to keep their houses warm and in some areas diseases including cold, flue and fever have also been reported.

They said that the power supply has been disrupted throughout the Northern Areas.

The district headquarters including Gilgit, Skardu Town, Chilas, Khaplu and Gahkuch are the worst sufferers of loadshedding due to greater number of power consumers.

They said the supply of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) is expensive and given the poor communication infrastructure the same could not be delivered to the mountainous areas where the temperature is below the freezing point.

The firewood imported from Diamer is sold on too exorbitant prices and it is beyond the budget of common consumers, the residents in Hunza said. They said due to high prices of firewood which is Rs150 per 40 kg, people are forced to cut down fruit trees.