Record snowfall in Galiyat paralyses life

M. Bilal Baseer Abbasi

ABBOTTABAD: Life has become paralysed in uper areas of Galiyat during the spell of heavy snowfall on Wednesday night, disconnecting all the roads link interconnecting Murree, Galiyat And Abbottabad City.

The main Abbottabad-Murree Road remained blocked and unusable for vehicles as record snowfall continued in the area. Due to the extremely cold weather conditions, the district administration has cautioned public and especially the visitor not to travel towards Galiyat unnecessary.

Locals told The Frontier Post that the main road leading towards Galiyat was blocked and was not opened for a while because of snow. They claimed that almost all the link roads in Galiyat were closed for the second consecutive day.The low laying areas received heavy rain since the Wednesday evening and remained continued till filling of this report without any interval resulting in landslides in different areas confining the movement of people within homes.

Meanwhile, member of KP Assembly for the area and Chairman DDAC Abbottabad, Nazir Ahmed Abbasi said after a long time the upper areas of Abbottabad received such a heavy snowfall. He said the government is trying their best to render maximum relief to the denizens as the areas were completely snow bound areas. He asked residents to avoid unnecessary travelling and urged the administration for carrying out restoration of utility services on war footing basis so that public of his area are provided basic necessities and essential services without any delay.

Ahsan Hameed, spokesperson of the Galiyat Development Authority (GDA), told media that the snow ploughs of GDA and K-P Highway were busy clearing the road, but with non-stop snowfall, the road had become slippery and only motorists using tyre chains should venture out. However, he advised tourists to avoid unnecessary travel as dense fog from the early morning had considerably reduced visibility on the road.

He advised tourists to wait until the fog and roads get clear. “If coming to Galiyat is necessary the travellers must take good care of fuel, battery and chain”, he added.