Monday, January 23, 2012

Snowfall in parts of Fata blocks road links, tribesmen facing difficulties

A view of PTDC motel after heavy snowfall in Booni, Chitral on Sunday.





Snowfall continues to halt the normal life activities in the tribal belt including Parachinar, Wana, Orakzai Agency, Tirah Valley and mountains of North Waziristan Agency where people were facing acute shortage of items of daily use and temperature was also decreasing.

Sources said that heavy snowfall was reported in Parachinar where bazaar of Parachinar was reportedly closed due to snowfall and severe cold. Locals living in remote areas remained cut off from Parachinar bazaar and complained about acute shortage of various food items.

Locals complained that non-availability of gas and long hours power cuts to the area has doubled the difficulties of the tribesmen. They demanded of the government to ensure proper supply of electricity to the area under severe cold and also make immediate arrangements for the supply of gas to the terror hit region.

Political administration said that work was underway to clear the main roads which were blocked by snowfall which brought the vehicular traffic to standstill in the region.

Sources said that Orakzai Agency also received snowfall, disrupting normal activities in the area and also roads leading to the tribal region were also closed besides decreasing temperature in the area.

Official sources said that government was working clear the roads which were blocked by snowfall to restore linkage of the tribal regions with the adjoining areas. People were facing various difficulties because they were left restricted to their homes by the heavy snowfall. Most of the locals were busy in removing snow from the roof of their houses.

Similarly, snowfall was reported in Tirah Valley, Samana area of Hangu, from where reports of extreme cold weather were received.

Meanwhile, North and South Waziristan Agencies’ mountainous areas also received snowfall while reports regarding weather were not reaching to the media because remote areas lack communication facilities.

However, sources told INP that Pir Ghar Mountain, the highest mountain in South Waziristan Agency, and the adjacent peaks received heavy snowfall which comes in the territory of North Waziristan. Locals complained that government was not doing any thing to clean the routes and unpaved roads linking the said areas to the cities and the tribesmen were left helpless.

Northern parts of the country are in the grip of severe cold while hilly areas including Murree and Galiyat received heavy snowfall on Saturday-Sunday night and the temperature has fallen to minus.

Reports say that thousands of tourists have thronged Murree and surrounding areas to enjoy the snowfall. Slipper roads have however badly affected the traffic system and there was almost no place for parking in Murree due to rush of tourists as majority of them traveled in their own cars. The Mall, the central place in Murree was flooded with tourists on Sunday and hotels and restaurants were doing roaring business

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