Visitors allowed to travel to Naran tourist resort

MANSEHRA: The district administration on Wednesday allowed locals and visitors to travel to the tourist resort of Naran.“The work on clearing snow and cutting glaciers coming in the right of way of Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road beyond Naran is still in progress to resume vehicular traffic between KP and Gilgit-Baltistan,” Adnan Khan Bhittani, the deputy commissioner, told reporters here.

The MNJ road was blocked by all sorts of traffic in November last year after the Kaghan Valley received the first snowfall of the winter season. “The visitors could now move Naran and we are expecting that the rest of the artery up to Babusar Top could be cleared to all sorts of traffic within a week to restore traffic between KP and GB,” Adnan Khan Bhittani said.

He said that heavy landslides in the Ghanool area of Balakot which caused a blockade of traffic for over 42 hours have now been completely removed, clearing the artery to the dual-way traffic. The official said that machines were busy clearing artery linking Naran with Saiful Muluk Lake and tourists could visit that within the next couple of days.

“We welcome tourists in picturesque Kaghan Valley and all possible measures are being taken to ensure peace of mind during their stay here,” Bhittani said.He said police posts were also being made operation gradually from the Kaghan to Babusar Top as more and more areas cleared of snow to ensure foolproof security for visitors.