Lax response: Hundreds stranded as roads not cleared

CHITRAL/ HARIPUR/ MANSEHRA: A sluggish response from National Highway Authority and poor traffic management caused a 12 hour-long gridlock on Shahrah-e-Kaghan, forcing tourists to spend night in their vehicles.

According to Matituallah Seth, the president of the hotel association in Kaghan, the heavy downpour lashed the valley on Saturday night, causing landslides in the scenic valley.

He added hill torrents and landslides wreaked havoc with the road which was closed at 12 different points on the Kaghan Highway on Saturday. As a result, hundreds of tourists who were on their way back to their native areas were stuck.

“The queues of vehicles were at least eight kilometres long and picnickers, most with their familes, were stranded,” said Syed Noman Shah, a local journalist who was among the hundreds of people on the highway.

Shah said he saw a van getting hit by a flooded hill torrent near Rajwal village, about eight kilometres from Naran. He added the passengers narrowly escaped with their lives. The journalist added there was a shortage of food items and people were borrowing petrol from fellow motorists. Meanwhile, petrol pumps cashed in on the situation and started fleecing customers.

Adil Khan, another tourist, said there was no traffic or regular police despite the huge number of tourists.

Matiullah Seth, meanwhile, said NHA officials were informed about the landslides but failed to move their machinery. Kaghan and Balakot police SHOs confirmed the traffic jams due to landslides, claiming the situation had returned to normal. The official said not a single tourist was left stranded.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2016.