New Year’s night, snowfall: Murree tourists asked to follow govt advisory

LAHORE: On the direction of Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, a cabinet committee meeting reviewed the arrangements made in the wake of snowfall in Murree and took necessary decisions accordingly.

Provincial Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Environment Protection and Cooperatives Muhammad Basharat Raja presided over the meeting while Chief Secretary Abdullah Khan Sumbal, Additional Chief Secretary Home Captain (retd) Asadullah, Commissioner, RPO Rawalpindi and Deputy Commissioner Murree also attended the meeting.

Cabinet subcommittee on law and order Chairman Muhammad Basharat Raja warned that New Year's night, weekend and snowfall events are expected together in Murree “so all arrangements should be completed keeping this situation in mind”. It was decided in the meeting that the management committee under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner Murree will sit in the control room established in the city and take necessary decisions. It was also decided that vehicles exceeding the decided number would be discouraged from entering Murree.

Provincial Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Basharat Raja expressed satisfaction that 13 facility centres set up in Murree would be connected to the central control room. He said that stranded tourists can contact helpline 051-9269015 and 051-9269016. “These phone numbers can be contacted in case of getting stuck in snow or facing difficulty in accommodation”, he said. He said that the number of fork lifters and traffic police force had been increased.

Raja Basharat appealed to the tourists to follow the advisory issued by the government. “Full information will be provided to the tourists at the places where diversions have been arranged” directed the chair.

On this occasion, Chief Secretary Abdullah Khan Sumbal while directing the Highways Department to keep the roads clear said that the district administration should conduct a continuous awareness campaign on media and keep in touch with the hotel association Murree.

He said that the tourism squad would also be deployed to support the district administration. Additional Chief Secretary Home Captain (retd) Asadullah told the meeting that PDMA has transferred Rs10 million to Commissioner Rawalpindi’s account so that there is no problem in emergency arrangements. He pointed out that since the district administration of Murree is comparatively new so all government departments should cooperate for better results.

The Cabinet Committee also approved the nomination of 579 price magistrates across the Punjab while consideration was given to linking private CCTV cameras with the Safe Cities Authority in Lahore.

Raja Basharat said that private cameras should also be used to prevent crimes. The meeting approved to give Shuhada Fund to two martyred jawans of Border Military Police Dera Ghazi Khan, namely Sajjad Hussain and Muhammad Tahir.