MPA demands waiting room on Dir side of Lowari tunnel

CHITRAL, Sept 28: As the winter season is set to approach, the people of Chitral would be ready to brace for the hardship and trouble while commuting to and from other parts of the country. Last year, the whole winter season saw people of the landlocked valley complaining about the attitude of the security and other officials at the under-construction Lowari tunnel. The tunnel staff was accused of torturing the passengers and forcing them to wait for hours for the opening of the passageway two hours at the weekend. One of the major issue for the passengers was the absence of a waiting room, especially for women and children, at both sides of the tunnel. Though the Chitral Scouts built a waiting room in the Chitral side of tunnel in collaboration with an NGO, Chitralis still have to face humiliation and trouble while waiting on the mountain in the Dir side of the tunnel. Talking to our correspondent Zahiruddin in Chitral, MPA from upper Chitral Sardar Hussain demanded that the government should construct a waiting room for the passengers in the Dir side of the tunnel before the closure of the Lowari Pass road in the winter. He said often most of the passengers, especially women and children, got fainted while waiting for the opening of the tunnel for hours in winter. He also said that there was no facility of toilets and sometimes the passengers had to wait for more than 12 hours and even for whole night under the open sky amid knee-deep snow.]]>