Traffic between KP-GB resumes after inauguration of bridge

MANSEHRA: The traffic between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan resumed on Monday after the central bridge which was washed away in recent flash floods at the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road in the Mahandri area was inaugurated.

“The federal government has taken suspension of traffic between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan seriously and moved heavy machinery for an early installation of the steel bridge,” the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Member National Assembly Sardar Mohammad Yusuf told a ceremony held after reopening the bridge in Mahandri area by the Frontier Works Organisation

Retired captain Mohammad Safdar, the son-in-law of the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was also in attendance. Sardar Yusuf said that locals and tourists had been stranded in Manor and Khan valleys after flash floods wreaked havoc on July 30 this year and suffered hardships and difficulties.

“The family of a woman and her son, and those whose shops were swept away in the tragedy are still without compensation money,” he said. He asked the district administration to immediately complete a damage assessment and release the compensation amount to families and traders affected by the natural calamity.

The MNA said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would also visit the area soon. “I have also taken up Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road’s dilapidated condition with the prime minister and he assured me of allocation of more funds for its blacktopping,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion Mohammad Safdar said that the federal government was working to address issues faced by the people. “With the reopening of this artery the people who had remained stranded in the Manor and Kaghan Valleys now could move to their respective destinations,” he said. Meanwhile, the artificial lake which was created in Kunhar River in the Mahandri area in flash floods on July 30 was receding gradually, minimising the chances of its outburst.