Dir-Chitral road cleared of snow up to Lowari Tunnel

DIR: The army engineering unit has removed snow from the Dir-Chitral Road up to Lowari Tunnel for traffic on Thursday. However, many link roads in the remote Kohistan Valley, Doog Darra, upper parts of Brawal tehsil and other areas remain closed to traffic.

As snowfall at the Lowari Top stopped, the army engineering unit started clearing the road from the Qulandi area up to Lowari Tunnel on Wednesday evening. The army unit continued working to clear the road from the Lowari Tunnel up to Lowari Top till the filing of this report.

The Lowari Top has received up to seven feet snow while the Lowari Tunnel received three to four feet snow. Dir city has also received light snowfall and 85 millimeters rain in three days, said the Met Office in Upper Dir.

The tehsil government of Dir also assisted the army engineering unit in clearing the road by providing tractors to the unit. Operational Commander, Upper Dir, Brig Aamir Yaseen, along with Dir Tehsil nazim Mir Makhzanuddin visited the Lowari Tunnel and checked the work themselves. Yaseen appreciated the unit's efforts and also gave them cash prizes.

"The Pakistan Army is there in Upper Dir to serve the people of the district and solve problems," the commander said. Makhzanuddin said that they were making efforts to reopen the Lowari Top route to mitigate the Chitrali passengers' miseries. Also, electricity supply to many areas including Qulandi, Rokhan and Patrak areas of Brawal tehsil and other areas could not be restored even after passage of three days. The closure of routes has also caused shortage of foods, vegetables and other daily use items in remote areas. The weather has turned chillier after the snowfall and rain, and people have started using more firewood to cope with the situation.