Truckers reject night-time travel through Lowari Tunnel

DIR: The truckers on Thursday rejected the night timing for their vehicles to pass through the under-construction Lowari Tunnel.

“We are told to use the Lowari Tunnel after 10pm. However, the tunnel gets slippery at night and we can’t put our lives in danger,” said Azeem Khan, a trucker from Dir. He said that the National Highway Authority treated them unfairly by allowing them to use the tunnel at night only.

He said that it was not possible to control heavy vehicles like trucks on the slippery and frozen road at night. Official sources in the district administration of Upper Dir said that they permitted trucks and other heavy vehicles to use the tunnel at night because the route often gets blocked in daytime when there is rush and often patients, women, children and elderly people face difficulties.

The army and NHA have recently cleared the Lowari Tunnel road by heavy machinery and opened it for traffic. Meanwhile, people of the mountainous areas of the district including Lowari, Kumrat, Thal, Doog Darra, and Barawal have been stranded in homes due to heavy snowfall that has also created shortage of foodstuff and other items in those areas.