MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas has established a control room in the vigilance cell of his secretariat to obtain first-hand information about weather conditions, closures or damages to roads by rains and snowfall and get remedial measures initiated through the government departments concerned without loss of time.

According to a press release issued on Monday, instructions had been passed to all divisional and deputy commissioners as well as senior officials of the communications and works department and State Disaster Management Authority to stay connected with the control room and update it on the status of weather conditions and roads in different areas after every three hours.

The cell would communicate directions for and subsequently monitor the measures initiated by the departments concerned to mitigate the sufferings of people by restoring communications links to different areas, the press release said, adding that Additional Secretary Nadeem Ahmed Janjua, Deputy Director Sardar Abid Hussain Khan, Research Officer Saqib Ali, Protocol Officer Abdul Majeed Siddiqui and Technical Support Engineer Safdar Hayat in the prime minister’s secretariat had been appointed as focal persons for the control room.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2023