NHA grieved passengers rescued by Police

CHITRAL, March 7, 2011: Police on Monday rescued Chitrali passengers stranded outside the under-construction tunnel after holding hours-long talks with the Korean company working on the project.

The SHO of Drosh police station, Mir Azam Khan, said he rushed to the spot to rescue the passengers stranded on the road due to heavy snowfall.

He said he contacted the Korean construction company to allow the passengers to use the two-kilometre ‘approach tunnel’ on humanitarian grounds. The company allowed it after negotiations of many hours and the convoy of stranded vehicles passed through the tunnel, he added.

He said that passengers faced untold miseries as majority of them were women and children, who were found shivering with severe cold. “Their lives were at risk,” he claimed.

It is pertinent to mention that only the Lowari Tunnel connecting Chitral and Upper Dir districts has been opened for public use in the winter season while the approach tunnel on Chitral side is still under construction.

Some of the rescued passengers including Shahid Gul, Ahmedullah and Haider Ali said they had left Peshawar for Chitral two days ago and remained stranded in Upper Dir as the approach road to Lowari Tunnel was blocked by an avalanche on Dir side. They said NHA had failed to reopen the road to vehicular traffic for two days as they were told that the only bulldozer clearing the snow was out of order after developing some technical fault.

They alleged that Upper Dir police baton charged them when they tried to register their protest against the negligence of NHA on Sunday.

They said the avalanche was cleared later and they continued their journey on Monday to Chitral but found that the approach road was closed as NHA had not cleared the snow. They said that many of the passengers were unconscious when police reached there to rescue them .-- Zahiruddin, 'Dawn'. .