MANSEHRA: The visitors on Saturday remained stranded in Battakundi area of Kaghan valley after landslide hit Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road and suspended traffic for several hours.

The tourists travelled within Kaghan valley and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan remained stranded in Battakundi area after boulders detached from a nearby mountain blocked the MNJ road for more than three hours as National Highway Authority, according to locals, couldn’t move its machines promptly to clear the blocked portion of the road.

Traffic also remained blocked at Chitta Khatta, Battle and other such broken pieces where gushing water flooded the MNJ road owing to continuous rains.

“The government seems little interested in promoting tourism in Kaghan valley as the landslide, occurred last year, is still dumped on the roadside and none of the government entities has shifted it somewhere else so far,” said Shahida Bibi, a tourist.

She said that boulders and mudslides, which were dumped on roadside, near Sohni waterfall were coming in the right of way of that important artery, which linked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Gilgit-Baltistan and Kaghan valley with the rest of the country.

Jibran Ali, another tourist, said that he and his family remained stranded in Battakundi after the landslide hit the road.

Hassan Deen, the chairman of the Hoteliers Association in Kaghan valley, said that government earned huge revenue annually through different taxes but it didn’t spend money to address the issues faced by tourists.

“NHA has not been spending funds meant to remove landslides and make petty repairs as a result of which now the entire MNJ road has turned into ruins,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2023