SWABI, Feb 10: The government has banned the running of all public and private vehicles via Tarbela Dam Road and power house route as a precautionary measure to protect the dam from any possible sabotage act, an official source told Dawn here on Sunday.

He said since the Sept 11 attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon the Pakistan government had taken a number of steps to protect all the vital installations in the country, including the Tarbela Dam.

The banning of all transport through the project was, therefore, extremely necessary for the protection of the dam, he added.

“Tarbela Dam is an important asset which has been producing 3,478mw electricity and fulfilling the power requirements of the country to a great extent. That is the reason that its protection is one of the priorities,” he said.

God forbid, he said, if the dam was affected most parts of the country would plunge into darkness and trade interaction, business activities and industrial sector would be severely hit.

Besides, a terrorist attack on the dam could not be ruled out as after a terrorist attack on the Indian parliament on Dec 13, the war clouds had been hovering over the subcontinent and Indian war hysteria had compelled Pakistan to take extra-precautionary measures for the protection of the project and its power house.

After the attack on the Indian parliament, the security personnel had remained vigilant and even the Tarbela Dam staff vehicles had been thoroughly checked.

The Tarbela Dam project route, he said, was being used by the Gadoon industrial area people, students of the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute for Science and Technology, residents of Topi and Gadoon belt, etc., as it was a shortest route to Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Abbottabad and other areas, he pointed out. But that practice had been stopped, he added.

As a result, those who were forced to go via Jehangira and Swabi to Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Abbottabad, etc., were travelling about 50km extra journey and paying extra fare of Rs35, he pointed out, adding now most of the transporters were using the dilapidated road of Gala which had linked Topi and other areas with the under-construction Ghazi Barotha project.

This route is also long and dangerous but short than the Swabi- Jehangira route, he said. But most people preferred to go through the former despite difficulties, he added.

When contacted, a student of GIK Institute told Dawn that their bus had been allowed on each Thursday when the students went to their homes because the institute remained closed on Fridays and Saturdays.

The GIK bus had also been allowed to come via Tarbela Dam route, he added.

But, the source said, the GIK bus was allowed only by the Rector’s special permission.

The transporters as well as the commuters had been demanding the opening of Tarbela route but, the source said, due to eyeball-to- eyeball situation along the Indo-Pakistan border it was not possible as yet.