Old, rickety vehicles not to be allowed entry in tunnel: AC

DROSH, Nov 11: Assistant Commissioner Drosh Basharat Ahmad has said old and rickety vehicles would not be allowed entry in the under-construction Lowari tunnel in winter when the Lowari pass road closes due to snowfall. Talking to this newspaper here, he said as the tunnel was opened only twice a week in winters, there have been complaints of traffic congestion and pile-ups on both sides of the passageway. Whenever a vehicle, especially trucks and transport vans, develops fault the whole traffic is affected for hours, creating lots of hardship for the passengers. The AC said talks were underway with the Korean construction company to manage the traffic through the tunnel on the weekends. He said the government has approved the opening of he tunnel on every Saturday and Sunday. The official said from 10am to 11:30 am, traffic from Chitral going out of the valley would be allowed to pass through the tunnel while vehicles coming to Chitral would be allowed from 11:30am to 1pm.similarly, trucks would be allowed from 1pm to 2:30pm from Chitral side and from 2:30 to 4pm from Dir side. He said that the local administration was making arrangements to provide facilities to the passengers at the tunnel. The SDPO and SHO of Drosh would be on duty at the Chitral side of the tunnel on both the days to help the passengers in case of any issue. He also said that medical staff and an ambulance would also be available at the tunnel.]]>