Multiple Murree roads closed amid heavy snowfall

MURREE: Multiple roads leading to Murree have been closed after the hill station received snowfall, the traffic officials said, days after 22 people froze to death in the area after being stranded in their vehicles for hours.

According to SSP Operation and acting Chief Traffic Officer in Murree, the Kaldna road and other thoroughfares have been blocked temporarily and the traffic police are busy guiding tourists.

Moreover, CTO Rawalpindi was also present at the tourist spot to review measures and shared that 79 vehicles have entered the hill station as compared to 35 going out.

“Overall 1170 vehicles of tourists are currently present in Murree,” he said and asked the tourists to travel before taking into consideration the weather conditions.

It is pertinent to mention here that on January 18, the government lifted a travel ban on the entry of tourists in Murree and Galiyat after 10 days of the snowfall tragedy that claimed 22 lives.

The Punjab government had barred tourists from entering Murree except for locals by setting up a roadblock after the Murree tragedy. After 8 days, the district administration gave conditional permission to tourists to enter Murree after January 17.

As many as 8000 vehicles were allowed to enter the hill station and entry was banned from 5 pm to 5 am, however, locals and military vehicles including Azad Kashmir will be exempted from this ban.