ISLAMABAD, Jan 12: Life in the remote valleys of Chitral has come to a standstill as the distant areas are still remain cut-off from other parts of the district after last week's heavy snowfall.

The two-foot deep snow in the mountainous and hilly areas of the Mastuj and Yarkhun union councils has confined people to their houses. Huge avalanches have blocked the only jeepable road north of the tehsil headquarters, about 100km from Chitral town.

The area received a record snowfall after the October hailstorm which had caused a large-scale devastation in the district, destroying 70 per cent of crops and fruit trees besides damaging the road network.

The area was ignored in the relief efforts undertaken by the government for the victims of the October devastation and the latest spell of rain and snowfall has added to their miseries.

The supply of daily-use items, especially wheat, to the area from other parts has been stopped and a shortage of essential commodities is feared. People have started cutting fruit trees to use them as fuel-wood to protect themselves from the biting cold.

Due to the roads blockade, patients are also facing difficulties in reaching the poorly-equipped district headquarters hospital in Chitral town which is also cut off from the rest of the country because of the closure of the Lowari Pass.

In the northern-most border town of Boroghil, the situation has worsened and according to reports a large number of cattle, which provide livelihood to the local people, have perished while people are forced to live amid knee-deep snow without any link to other areas.

It may be pointed out that except for a few villages near the tehsil headquarters, small villages and hamlets numbering hundreds in the Yarkhun valley have no telephone and hospital facilities.

The harsh weather is also hampering work on a road project which the people have launched on a self-help basis. The Parwak-Mastuj road project was schedule to be completed by Jan 20 but the recent rains have disrupted the work. So far, the government has not come to the help of the people for the project which had been launched four years ago.