Clearing of roads continues in Lower and Upper Chitral

CHITRAL: The district administration and other relevant departments continued the clearing of roads blocked by the landslides and sludge left by the floods following the three days’ incessant rains and snowfall in the Lower and Upper Chitral districts on Sunday.

The district administration of Lower Chitral cleared the Chitral-Peshawar Road with the help of heavy machinery from National Highway Authority (NHA), Communication and Works Department (C&W) and Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) and subsequently opened the road for vehicular traffic.

Similarly, the administration has also made available machinery at Kardam Gol point in Drosh and Kochan Gol in Ashret and helping the vehicles to cross the streamsDeputy Commissioner Muhammad Imran Khan told reporters that heavy machinery of NHA, C&W and TMA were busy in clearing the roads in various areas of the two districts to ensure smooth flow of vehicular traffic and facilitate the visitors and local residents.

He said that officials of the district administration had suspended the leave of government employees and were monitoring relief activities, adding that rehabilitation of Garam Chashma Road and Bamburet Road in Kalash valley was in full-swing as well.

More incidents about collapse of houses were also reported from various areas in the Lower and Upper Chitral districts. The local residents said that four persons sustained injuries when a house collapsed in Bakamak village near Chitral Town early in the day.

The injured, whose names could not be ascertained, were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital.One each house collapsed in various villages of Lower Chitral, including Kaliktok, Dop Khairabad, Kari, Barghozi and Bakarabad and Norr and Kosht villages in Upper Chitral.

However, no loss of life was reported in the incidents of houses collapse.The communication system, including network of mobile phone service also remained suspended due to non-availability of electricity and solar batteries charging facility.

Meanwhile, the weather in Lower and Upper Chitral turned chillier following incessant rains and snowfall in the upper mountainous areas of the districts.There were reports about heavy snowfall in Ujno, Khot, Marhp, Reech, Terich, Laspur and Yarkhun valley in Upper Chitral and Gobor area in Lower Chitral.Students, and government and private sectors remained stranded due to the closure of roads in Lotkoh and parts of upper Chitral.