MURREE, June 27: The heatwave that had the country in its grip for weeks drove a large number of tourists to Murree hill resort in search of relief.

But the search instead drove them into new problems.

Poor planning by the wardens and local administration created traffic gridlocks in the town. Due to digging of a big portion of road at Jika Gali for construction of a parking plaza and consequent land sliding, thousands of tourists, including women and children, remain stranded there for hours.

One side of the whole Jika Gali bazaar was dug up for the construction of the eleven-storey parking plaza but the land sliding led to cancellation of the project but not before causing a big damage to the road.

A temporary iron bridge was installed there but it is too dangerous and not able to stand the heavy traffic, causing further hindrance in the flow of even light vehicles.

Water shortage is another problem faced by the tourists. Hoteliers get water through tankers but people said contaminated water was being drawn from natural nullahs and supplied to the hotels. — Correspondent