KP to take up Lowari tunnel issue with federal govt

PESHAWAR, Feb 27: The Khyber Pakhtunhkwa government on Friday assured the provincial assembly that it would take up the issue of the opening of the Lowari tunnel with the federal government and the National Highway Authority (NHA). KP senior minister for local government and rural development Inayatullah Khan while responding to a point order in the provincial assembly said the Lowari tunnel issue was an important one and was faced by the people of both Dir and Chitral districts. The issue was raised by PPP lawmaker from PK-89 Chitral Saleem Khan. Inayatullah said he was not sure how and why the NHA was demanding compensation money for keeping the tunnel open. “I am not sure how NHA could charge KP for passage through an under-construction tunnel,” Inayat said, adding he would take up the issue with the federal government. Speaker Asad Qaiser called for arranging a meeting to discuss this issue immediately. “Chief minister should chair this meeting, so that the suffering of Chitral’s people could be alleviated,” Qaiser said. Inayatullah assured the speaker that he will take up this issue with Communication and Works (C&W) department forthwith. Saleem Khan told the house that recently a meeting of the provincial government and NHA had decided to keep the tunnel three days a week. He said that it was agreed keeping the tunnel open for public for two days, while third day will be reserved for goods transport. Saleem said that so far KP assembly has passed three resolutions in this regard; however, the resolutions have landed on deaf ears. “About 800 trucks are stranded at Dir side of the tunnel while Chitral is facing an acute shortage of edibles,”he said, adding that NHA told him that KP government had yet to pay its liabilities of last year for keeping the tunnel open for public. “Government should immediately take stock of this situation,” he added.]]>