Deluge of tourists : Madness in Murree, again

Traffic police are performing their duties with full strength in a professional manner to ensure smooth flow oftraffic

ISLAMABAD:

The Rawalpindi City Traffic Police on Monday advised tourists to avoid visiting Murree for a few days due to the unprecedented rush of motorists at the hill station.

“Since the first day of Eid, over 100,000 vehicles have entered Murree, leaving no parking space for more. The situation forced the CTP to apply filter at different entry points of Murree under which motorcyclists making stunts and other non-serious visitors are being returned,” traffic chief Shoaib Khurram Janbaz told APP.

Janbaz said there was capacity of parking 10,000 vehicles on different roads of Murree and the number of vehicles that have entered Murree so far was almost ten times higher. “The traffic is moving at a snail’s pace and the vehicles are heading bumper-to-bumper.”

Traffic police are performing their duties with full strength in a highly professional manner to ensure smooth flow of traffic at the roads leading to the hill station, he added.

A senior official of the Islamabad Traffic Police, Khalid Rasheed, said in their estimate around 200,000 cars had entered Murree during the Eid holidays. He was performing his duty at the Lake View Park in Islamabad.

Last week, the Rawalpindi CTP had claimed to have prepared a comprehensive traffic plan in light of the expected rush to the hill station. Last year, during Eidul Fitr, an estimated 93,000 vehicles entered Murree causing a similar situation.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2015.