5 Kaghan hotels sealed on virus fears

Irresponsible attitudes by visitors have landed several hotels and their staff in the scenic Kaghan valley in peril where authorities were forced to seal five hotels after staff there tested positive for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).

The Kaghan Development Authority (KDA) said that visitors continue to defy the prescribed standard operating procedures (SOPs) and other precautionary guidelines for frequenting tourist destinations in the area.

They added that the use of facemasks and hand sanitisers in the region has become rare while social distancing protocols are also ignored in hotels and public places.

As a result, they said that at least 47 staffers at five hotels in the valley have tested positive for Covid-19.

The KDA has now recommended imposing a smart lockdown at five hotels and restaurants in Naran apart from registering cases against five people who reopened their hotels after breaking the authority’s seal.

Meanwhile, the Hazara Region Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Qazi Jameelur Rehman has directed DPOs to stop the irresponsible activities of tourists.

He said that the hilly region continues to receive heavy monsoon rains, which can cause landslides apart from raging hill torrents. Unless they are careful, tourists could put themselves, their loved ones and locals in danger.

DIG Rehman said that tourists, coming from different parts of the country, could be seen taking selfies while standing on the banks of rivers, streams, waterfalls and lakes which was quite risky during the rainy season.

He added that a majority of tourists do not know how to swim in the raging waters of the rivers and streams of the Hazara region and that there is a history of incidents where tourists have drowned.

He instructed all DPOs of the region to instruct tourists to refrain from any action which would later cause grief to their families.

“We welcome tourists to Hazara and we have also deployed police at all major tourist destinations across Hazara as required to facilitate tourists,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2020.