Chairlift installed on River Indus to link Torghar with Shangla

MANSEHRA: People have installed a chairlift on River Indus to link Torghar with the neighbouring Shangla district.

“We have no road and concrete bridge at the Indus River to travel between Toghar and Shangla districts and this modern chairlift facility would make travel between two districts convenient,” Farmanullah Khan, the former tehsil member, told the inaugural ceremony held in Judbah, the district headquarters of Torghar.

People largely attended the ceremony and expressed their pleasure on the launching of the chairlift facility to cross the Indus River.

“This chairlift would link Judbah with the Kabulgram area of Shangla district as earlier people either used a suspension bridge or boats to travel between these districts,” Farmaullah said.

Speaking on the occasion, local SHO Abdul Ghafar Khan said that police could also use the chairlift facility to cross the river, which was earlier an uphill task.

Speaking on the occasion, Sarzameen Khan, the president of the central traders’ body, said that more than 500 people of both sides could daily use the chairlift facility to move between Shangla and Torghar districts.

“Torghar, which has been a settled district since 2011, still lacks civic amenities and people have been living a miserable life here,” Khan said.

A local resident, Rubnawaz Khan, said that since the launching of the chairlift facility, the ratio of fatal accidents in boats would also be reduced.

Meanwhile, the Baffa-Pakhal Tehsil Municipal administration has restricted the entry of tourists into Siran, Konsh and Kaghan valleys.

A police contingent and officials of the TMA led by the Tehsil Municipal officer Mazhar Muzafar Awan intercepted the vehicles coming from Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad at Shatay interchange on Hazra Expressway and didn’t allow them to proceed ahead. Awan said that the coronavirus standard operating procedures were strictly being followed in the entire tehsil.