Tourists continue to throng Kaghan Valley

Two tourists were injured in a minor accident near Lohar Banda point

BALAKOT: Even though the government gazetted holidays for Eidul Fitr may be over, tourists continued to flock to the scenic Kaghan Valley on what is the fourth day of Eid.

Local officials estimated that over 75,000 vehicles, including small passenger cars and larger vans carrying hundreds of thousands of tourists, visited various spots in the Kaghan valley, including the hill station of Shogran, Siri Paye, Naran and the famous Lake Saiful Muluk.

Long queues of cars could be seen plying the narrow strip of highway between Balakot and Babusar Top. As a result, traffic was seen gridlocked for hours at various points along the highway, including at Khania, Kaghan and Bata Kundi despite extensive arrangements undertaken by the provincial police department.

Traffic police officers could be seen trying to regulate heavy traffic passing through tourist routes. Mansehra SSP Arif Javed said that they had deployed 850 policemen in and around the Mansehra-Naran-Jhalkhand-Chillas Road (MNJC) to maintain the law and order situation and to control the flow of traffic.

"Besides the regular police force deployment, 16 heavy motorcycle riders are monitoring the traffic situation, heavy machinery, recovery vans, mobile workshops, four fork lifters, 50 tourist police officials, six vehicles, two platoons of elite force (50 personnel each) are also in place for any emergency situation," the SSP said.

Despite their efforts, two tourists were injured in a minor accident near the Lohar Banda point in Mahandari.

Tourists, stuck in traffic, told Daily Express that they had travelled to the mountainous region to enjoy their Eid holidays and the pleasant weather.

WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM APP

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2018.