UPPER DIR: The Lowari tunnel road remained closed to traffic here on Wednesday after mountains in Upper Dir district received heavy snowfall during the last two days.

The district administration stopped the vehicles at Panakot on Wednesday and did not allow them to proceed to Chitral until snow was cleared from the road. Scores of passengers, including women, children and patients, were stranded in their vehicles on the Lowari tunnel road in freezing temperatures for hours.

Sources in the National Highway Authority and district administration said that machinery was being moved to remove snow from the road after the snowfall stopped. They said that travel on the tunnel road was dangerous due to risk of avalanches at various places. They said that they were trying their best to clear the road to traffic as soon as possible.

Upper Dir admin stops vehicles at Panakot; roads in Shangla also blocked

The sources said that the NHA and the district administration had issued directives to the people as well as drivers not to travel to Chitral via Lowari tunnel during snowfall. However, they said that their directives were being ignored by the people.

In Shangla, a new spell of snowfall continued in upper parts of the district for second consecutive day on Wednesday, blocking all major roads to traffic.

The heavy snowfall in upper parts, including the district headquarters Alpuri, started on Tuesday morning and continued for the second consecutive day.

According to local people, Alpuri-Puran road at Yakhtangay, Karora-Chakesar road at Kandaw and several other roads were blocked after the area received up to five feet of snow. They also complained about suspension of power supply in upper parts of Shangla.

A large number of motorists were seen stuck on the roads at various places due to which commuters faced severe hardships.

In Mansehra, Karakoram Highway was blocked briefly to traffic at Chaterplan as upper parts of Hazara received heavy snowfall on Wednesday.

The rain and snowfall, which was started in Mansehra, Torghar and in three Kohistan districts, on Tuesday night continued intermittently for the entire day on Wednesday, plunging the mercury below freezing point.

The Karakoram Highway was blocked after vehicles plying between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan and within Hazara division got stuck in heavy snow, but it was cleared to traffic after three hours.

The tourist resorts of Shogran and Kaghan valley, which was already cut off from rest of Mansehra district because of the blockade of roads, also received heavy snowfall.

In Swabi, rain accompanied with thunderstorm on Wednesday damaged standing crops and vegetables across the district, according to farmers.

The rain, which started on Tuesday, continued till Wednesday morning and there was forecast of more rain.

In Khar, local people said on Wednesday that almost all mountains and hilly areas of Bajaur tribal district received heavy snowfall during the last two days.

They said that the mountains along the Pak-Afghan border in Nawagai, Salarzai, Chamarkand and Mamond tehsils had witnessed a record snowfall during the recent spell that started on Tuesday evening.

The residents told this scribe that it was the fourth time during last three weeks in current winter that their areas had received snowfall. They said that frequent snowfall had created shortage of firewood while the price of LPG had surged by Rs30 per kilogramme during the last two days.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2019