PESHAWAR, March 6: The NWFP Senior Minister, Sirajul Haq, on Sunday asked the federal government to take concrete measures to save people of the NWFP from the threat of floods.

"When snow covering the mountains and hills starts melting, the plains in the province will face devastating flood ," he said during the oath- taking ceremony of Chitral Students Association (CSA) here. He said that due to heavy snowfall, over 25 feet snow was still lying at the top of mountains up in the north of the province.

He said that the Frontier government had announced a package of Rs 2.25 billion for Chitral district to compensate the people affected from heavy rains and snowfall.

Mr Siraj said that after the construction of Lowari Tunnel people of Chitral would be directly connected through road with the rest of the province and they would not need to come to Peshawar by air or via Afghanistan.

He said that he would discuss the problems of students with NWFP governor and vice-chancellor of Peshawar University. He lauded the people of Chitral for their high respect for moral values.

MNA Abdul Akbar Chitrali in his speech announced that construction of Lowari Tunnel would start on May 8 as the government had approved the project. Mr Chitrali said that modern education was necessary for the progress of nations as no nation could achieve its goal without science and technology.

Patron-in-chief of CSA, Badshah Munir, president CSA, Naveed Chughtai and president of Chitral Union of Journalists also addressed the ceremony.