No transportation through tunnel

No transportation through tunnel

Via The News

PESHAWAR: The landlocked Chitral district is at risk of braving a famine-like situation this winter if provision of goods is not allowed through Lowari tunnel as the district is alarmingly short of all edible supplies, particularly wheat.

The National Highway Authority (NHA) has decided to keep the unfinished tunnel closed for traffic this winter that would make it impossible for people to transport essential items. It will open the tunnel for traffic only twice a month for limited hours that is unlikely to meet the people’s food requirements, besides rendering them almost unable to connect with the rest of the country.

An official figure suggested that 4,800 metric tonnes of wheat is yet to be transported to the district even though the month of December has started.The Lowari Top would be blocked anytime even by a short spell of snowfall that would remain closed for four to six months. Out of allocated 14,000 metric tonness for winter’s six months, 10,000 tonnes have been supplied. However, an official in Chitral put the amount of wheat stored well below the mentioned 10,000 tonnes. He said they had hardly 50 per cent of the wheat stocked in the district currently, around 7,000 metric tonnes.

Sugar, ghee, pulses and other edible items are also available in a very small quantity. The requirement of the edibles is around 2,100 metric tonnes, but the available stock touches 300 metric tonnes. The supplies would run out in just a month.

The essential goods could not be stored because people did not expect that the tunnel would be closed for traffic. “As soon as the Lowari Top is closed, the stockpile of edibles will run out in two days,” said Sher Fayyaz Khan, district food controller. “No edible item will be available in the market that could create an uncontrollable situation,” he warned.

Chitral district remains closed for all kinds of traffic for four to six months due to heavy snowfall on Lowari Top in winters. For decades, Chitralis used to store supplies for winter ahead of the start of the season. An 8.86kms tunnel, an unfinished project of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government that was resumed in 2005, bypasses the 10,500 altitude Lowari Top. Drilling of the tunnel was completed in 2009 and traffic was allowed to use it in winters since then, though it still needs to be touched up.

Before 2009, it was learnt, district administration and business community would plan to bring and dump supplies. The transportation of the supplies would start in July every year and continue for six months. After the construction of the tunnel in 2009, all those plans were not made as road would remain opened for traffic and people could bring essential commodities round the year.

An official said the district coordination officer Chitral in a meeting on November 7 revealed that the NHA would not open the tunnel for traffic this winter and the administration needed to dump essential commodities. “That was completely impossible,” the official said, requesting anonymity. “The demand is enormous and time and cash with businessmen limited,” he said. The official worried people would die of hunger if previous years’ arrangement of keeping the tunnel opened for traffic was not retained.

Also, the district faces the threat of shortage of petroleum products. Chitral needs around 13,000 kilolitres of diesel, petrol and kerosene oil, which could not be stored. Official figures suggest that only 2,000 kilolitres of the three products are available in the district. So, the traffic can also come to a halt.