MANSEHRA: The people of Torghar on Sunday threatened to come onto the streets if the main Torghar-Buner road was not reopened to traffic within two days.

“The Torghar-Buner road was blocked last week after rain triggered landslides at various places, but it is yet to be cleared to traffic,” Salman Khan, a local elder, told mediapersons in Judbah.

A group of residents, led by Mr Khan, said that Torghar got the status of a settled district some 10 years ago, but its people were still living a miserable life.

“We are still living without road, health and education facilities,” Mr Khan said. he said that that this important artery was blocked at four points from Palosa Hassanzai to Khanano Dehari areas, creating problems for the people.

“Our link with our relatives in Buner has been cut off since the blockade of this 4km stretch from Manjakot to Gudar,” he said.

Another resident Khalid Latif said the main artery was usually blocked in rainy weather and they had taken that issue with the deputy commissioner and local MPA, but to no avail.

They said that if the district administration didn’t clear the rubble of landslides from the road within next two days they would block Judbah-Darband road to traffic.

HOTELIERS BOOKED: The Kaghan Development Authority on Sunday lodged an FIR against three hoteliers of Naran who broke official seals after the hotels were closed when their employees tested positive for coronavirus in Kaghan valley the other day.

“We started the crackdown after the health department confirmed that 47 employees of various hotels and restaurants have tested positive to Covid-19 in Kaghan valley,” deputy director Mazhar Hussain Shah told mediapersons.

He said that five more hotels were also sealed at Shogran tourist resort bringing the number of sealed hotels and restaurants to 10 in the Kaghan valley.

SPORTS FACILITIES: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would establish playgrounds in various parts of Torghar district.

“Our government wants to launch sports activities in backward districts of the province and soon work on a volleyball ground would be started on the Wapda’s land,” provincial secretary sports and tourism Abid Majeed told a gathering in Judbah on Sunday.

He said that a sports gymnasium would also be built in Judbah, the district headquarters of Torghar, for the youth.

Speaking on the occasion, a local sports organiser Rubnawaz Yousafzai said that they had been holding tournaments of cricket and other games in agriculture fields as there was no playground in Torghar.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2020