PESHAWAR: Thousands of people on Sundayremained stuck on both sides of the under-construction Lowari tunnel due to the mismanagement of National Highway Authority (NHA).
As the Lowari Pass connecting Chitral with other parts of the country remains closed due to snowfall, the tunnel is opened on Sundayevery week.
However, as the NHA failed to properly remove snow from the road in the
Dir side, thousands of vehicles remained stuck from Dir upper to the Drosh town in Chitral.
A passengers from near the tunnel said nearly 2,000 vehicles were stranded in the Chitral side as night fell on Sunday.
Tehsil Council Garam Chashma member Muhammad Ali Shah said he was among the thousands of people still waiting near Ziarat for the opening of the tunnel.
He said the queues of vehicles waiting for the opening of the tunnel stretched to Drosh but as the night fell the passageway was shut for passengers.
The elected member said a large number of passengers, including women and children, were taking shelter in mountain caves amid the biting cold.
Zulfiqar Ali from Yarkhun valley of Chitral said her daughter going to Islamabad was stranded near Ziarat in Chitral.
He said she had reached Ziarat at 8am on Sundaybut there was no prospect of her crossing the tunnel even after midnight.
The passengers said that the snow in the Dir side had not properly been removed due to which vehicles especially loaded mini-trucks blocked the track, creating gridlocks down to the Dir city. As a result, the passengers were stranded on both the sides.
They said on the intervention of PML-N leader Amir Muqam, a notification was issued by the NHA to open the tunnel twice a week but the Korean construction company and others were yet to fix the second day.
They said as the night fell, there was no hope if the stranded people would be helped out to reach their destinations.
