October 31, 2005	Monday	Ramzan 26, 1426

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RAWALPINDI, Oct 30: Elaborating a news item relating to the Neelum Valley road, which appeared in a section of the press on Sunday, a spokesman of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the road had been badly damaged and had completely been washed away at certain points.

The reconstruction of the road at places where it had been washed away, the spokesman said, might take more than four months.

However, he expressed hope that road communication between Muzaffarabad and Jura, the major town of Neelum Valley, would be restored in four weeks.

Army engineers have taken a number of steps to open up the Neelum Valley road on a war footing. Heavy machines are working round the clock between Muzaffarabad and Neelum Valley.

Last week, the army carried two light bulldozers, with the help of Chinook helicopters, and dropped them at Patikka in order to start work from the other side.

He said that a Russian MI-26 helicopter would carry four heavy bulldozers, one by one, and drop them at Deovlian to start road repair work between Nauseri and Deovlian.

Meanwhile, Frontier Works Organisation has already completed more than 50 per cent work on Laswa bypass, he said, adding that in about four weeks army engineers would hopefully be able to open the bypass and make new diversions and clear slides in order to establish a link between Muzaffarabad and Jura.

The spokesman also said that the road link ahead of Jura into the upper Neelum Valley was open since that area was not affected by the earthquake. He also said that in Neelum Valley areas which are facing food shortages because of road closure, the government was planning to carry out food dumping by using heavy cargo helicopters.

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