CHITRAL, Dec 27: The National Highway Authority (NHA) began to clear Lowari road of snow on Friday night.

Passengers crossing the Lowari Pass on feet and reaching here on Saturday, told Dawn that due to the sunny days of the past one week, the snow had melted down considerably and very slight attempt could reopen the road for vehicular traffic.

They said that on the Dir side, no work had been started by the NHA to clear the snow while on Chitral side only one bulldozer was working.

The residents of Chitral have expressed their utter distress over the apathetic attitude of both the provincial and federal governments towards their district. They said that weather was quite clear for the last eight days but the people of Chitral were left stranded both in Peshawar and Chitral by not opening the Lowari Pass for vehicular traffic.

They said that forced by the protests and criticism of the people, the work had been started on Chitral side of the Lowari Pass but with only one bulldozer which was quite inadequate.