• Vehicles barred from entering Murree until Monday night; delivery of goods, supplies also affected
• Police say all trapped tourists evacuated; roads being cleared

RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD: Following the events of the past weekend, the Punjab government on Sunday announced that it would accord the hill station of Murree the status of a district, in order to ensure better administration and prevent such a tragedy from occurring in the future.

Police also declared on Sunday that all tourists who were trapped in the snowstorm had been evacuated and only abandoned cars and other vehicles remained on the roads, which had been moved to the side to enable heavy machinery to clear the snow.

“Some part of Kuldana–Barian Road, covered with heavy snow is being cleared,” a traffic police spokesman said, adding that 600 to 700 vehicles had been escorted out of Murree since Saturday morning, adding that army, police and district administration personnel remained engaged in the rescue operation.

He further said that the main roads were blocked by trees that fell during the snowstorm.

In a separate statement, Islamabad police said more than 1,500 of their personnel took part in the operation to ensure the safe evacuation of tourists returning from Murree, bringing them to Faizabad and other points in the capital in police vehicles.

Local transporters said that due to the ban on entry into Murree, they had been unable to get supplies to the area, while those still present in the hill station took to social media to complain of the grossly inflated hotel rates.

On the other hand, the Islamabad district administration has extended the restriction placed on vehicles moving towards Murree until Monday night.

According a notification issued by the Islamabad district magistrate, there is a ban on the movement of all vehicles entering Murree from Islamabad until 9pm on January 10.

According to the notification, Islamabad police will establish three checkpoints between Satra Meel and Serena Chowk to ensure the ban is implemented, and only ambulances, security and fire-fighting vehicles will be exempted.

Murree district

According to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, who visited Murree on Sunday, it had been decided, in principle, to award Murree the status of a district. He said the chief secretary and Board of Revenue had been asked to provide their suggestions and ordered that a police superintendent and additional deputy commissioners be appointed immediately.

The chief minister received a detailed briefing on the progress of the relief and rescue operation underway during a high-level meeting held in Gharial.

Chief Minister Buzdar also gave a go-ahead to the establishment of two police stations as well as two parking plazas. The latter would be constructed at Sunny Bank and Jhika Gali to cater to the influx of tourists that Murree receives.

According to the plan, a shuttle service will connect these parking plazas with Mall Road.

It is worth noting that the former PML-N government also decided to give Murree status of the district in 2014. At that time, the government had formed a seven-member committee, led by then-petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. However, the plan did not materialise due to political and administrative issues.

A senior official of the district administration told Dawn on condition of anonymity that it would not be possible to give Murree the status of district within a month or two, adding that it could take over a year to complete the process.

He said demarcation of revenue limits, budget for the administration, their offices and houses and human resources would need to be calculated.

The official further said there was need to appoint a sessions judge, a deputy commissioner, a district police officer, district officers of health, education and municipal services, an additional district collector of revenue, among other departmental heads.

He said under the law, there was dire need to add at least two tehsils in the district.

“Though Murree, Kotli Sattian and Kahuta can be separated from Rawalpindi district to form a new district, it would require more work and funds,” he added.

However, not everyone is convinced that this move will yield positive results. Former Rawalpindi mayor and PML-N leader Sardar Naseem Khan told Dawn the PTI government was merely trying to divert the attention of people from the tragedy by making this announcement.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2022