Lowari tunnel closed; Chitralis start social distancing

CHITRAL: As part of precautions, Chitralis have been asked to maintain social distancing and remain indoors.

Besides, Lowari tunnel will be closed at 7pm today (March 23rd) till further orders. However, supply of food and medicines will continue.

This was announced by the deputy commissioner of lower Chitral on Monday afternoon.

He said as decided by stakeholders, the tunnel would remain closed till further notice.

Three days ago, the administration announced to shut the tunnel for public transport vehicles but the decision caused trouble to hundreds of people as they remained stranded at the tunnel.

Over the closure earlier, MNA Molana Abdul Akbar had criticized the DC, saying the decision should have been taken after taking the elected representatives on board.

After over four hours at that time, the tunnel was opened. The arrival of people in Chitral continued and the administration then announced that the tunnel will remain open from 9am to 7pm daily.

In order to avoid the spread of the virus through those coming from other cities, the administration today decided to close the tunnel till further notice.

While a lockdown was observed in major towns such as Chitral, Drosh and Booni, life remained normal in other areas with shops open.

Social distancing

But most of the people are observing social distancing to avoid the spread of the coronavirus in Chitral.

In Brep Upper Chitral, relatives of two persons who passed away recently asked people not to visit their houses for condolences.

In Booni Gol also, only neighbours and close relatives gathered on the death of an elder.

They also kept distance as a precautionary measure against the cotonavirus.

Though there has not been any confirmed case of the virus in Chitral, a large number of people have returned to their villages from different parts of the country such as Karachi and Islamabad.