MURREE, June 23: With the start of the summer vacations in educational institutions, a large number of tourists have arrived in the hilly resort town to escape the heat in the plain areas.

But with so many tourists in the area, traffic jams and water shortage have become the chronic problems not only for the local residents but also for the tourists. Long queues of vehicles can be seen on Imtiaz Shaheed, view fort, Kuldanna and hall roads, leaving no room even for pedestrians to move around.

To meet the need of the consumers, tankers supply water from the natural nullahs which are contaminated and the water usually causes diseases among tourists, especially children The shortage of water has been a major issue in Murree. The Neelum-Jhelum Bulk Water Supply Scheme was launched when the PML-Q was in power in Punjab during the Musharraf regime. However, the project was closed by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif during his previous tenure even though about three billion rupees had already been spent on it.

Similarly, parking is another big problem for the tourists as thousands of vehicles enter the city every day. There are no proper spaces for parking in the whole city. After the cancellation of the construction of a parking plaza at Jhika Gali, the dug-up site is now causing problems for the locals as well as the tourists.

The traffic police hold encroachers responsible for the hindrance in the smooth flow of traffic. They have been asking the town municipal administration to take action against vendors who have encroached on different roads and are hindering smooth flow of traffic.