MANSEHRA: Hundreds of passengers were left stranded in Kaghan valley after a bridge at Battakundi area linking Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Gilgit-Baltistan collapsed on Saturday.

“We have diverted the traffic to the Karakoram Highway following a bridge which links KP with GB collapsed at Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road in Battakundi area,” Ihsan Saifullah, the district police officer, told mediapersons.

He said that the bridge collapsed when a truck was moving through it, but no loss of life was reported in the incident.

“We rushed police personnel to the bridge to halt traffic on both the sides,” said Mr Saifullah. He said that passengers who were on way to their destinations on both sides of the bridge were moving out of the area through alternative vehicles.

He said that traffic wardens were also deployed in Mansehra and Balakot to divert vehicles moving to GB through that route to KKH.

He said that banners had also been displayed at prominent places in Mansehra and Balakot to inform the travellers of the situation.

The DPO said that they were in contact with the departments concerned for early revival of the plank bridge. He said that traffic in Kaghan beyond Battakundi was also halted and nobody was allowed to cross the Kunhar River.

VOTERS REGISTRATION: The election commission has completed the first phase of voters’ registration in Torghar and the second phase would be started from Sept 20.

A press release issued by the commission said that during the first phase its staff went door to door and village to village to get the names of voters registered.

It said that those who could not be registered or names of their family members were not included in the lists should approach the election commission. The statement said that the newly-complied voters lists would be displayed at prominent places/official buildings from Sept 20 to Oct 10 for the people’s information.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2016