Chitral’s plight: Lowari Tunnel closure results in dire food shortages

PTI-led K-P govt is yet to pay the Korean company to allow passage through the tunnel.

PESHAWAR:

As the lack of funds causes delays in the completion of the Lowari Tunnel, heavy snowfall at the Lowari Pass has cut off Chitral from the entire country resulting in stocks of edible items falling to dangerously low levels.

Since winter began in November, elders from Chitral, including Muhammad Zahir Shah and Burhan Shah Advocate, have been demanding the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led provincial government arrange funds to pay the Korean construction company through the National Highway Authority (NHA) and get the tunnel reopened.

The elders feel residents of Chitral need to be facilitated as it is not possible for them to travel through five feet of snow on the Lowari Pass.



Earlier at a news conference, MPA Saleem Khan had said the Sambo Korean Construction Company which launched the Lowari Tunnel project in 2006 was supposed to complete it by 2009, however, due to a lack of funds, the project was delayed during the Awami National Party’s tenure .

According to Khan, the government used to pay Rs0.3 million daily to the construction company through the NHA to stop their work for two hours on the tunnel and open it for traffic in the months of November, December, January and February.

The MPA said in these four months, because of the heavy snowfall on Lowari Pass, NHA officials used to divert traffic towards the Lowari Tunnel from 12pm till 2pm, during which hundreds of passengers and mini-trucks passed through it. However, after PTI took over in K-P, the funds were stopped and the Korean company has blocked the tunnel preventing anyone from crossing through.

Details available with The Express Tribune revealed an alarming situation for the district. The wheat requirement for Chitral is 30,000 metric tonnes (MT) for one year, whereas the allocated amount is 14,000MT against which the government has only released 10,000MT as yet. The remaining 4,000MT wheat is still to be transported, however, the route will remain blocked till February.

Heavy snowfall will result in stopping the flow of other essential commodities from the rest of the country to Chitral as well. Most of the population would be dependent on the government to provide wheat.

Similarly, other edible items like sugar, ghee and pulses have an annual demand of 2,100MT. Currently, only 300MT has been stocked in Chitral which will last less than 30 days.

Utility stores, where most people rush during shortage sin local markets, also require special arrangements for the storage of edible items.

Aside from the shortage of edible commodities, diesel, petrol and kerosene oil — for which the cumulative six-month demand is around 13,000 kilolitres — is short by around 2,000 kilolitres.  If the stock is not increased on an immediate basis, life in the area would come at a standstill and the situation would further deteriorate in the harsh winter.

Residents have persistently urged the provincial government to fix things on a priority basis or else things can take  a turn for the worse.

District Commissioner Chitral Shoaib Jadoon could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2013.