RAWALPINDI: Rain and humid weather did not dampen the Eid spirit of the residents of the garrison city.

Hundreds of Eid congregations were held with people offering prayers in mosques, Eidgahs, Imambargahs and other open areas amid tight security.

Special prayers were offered for the progress and prosperity of the country as well as unity of the Muslim Ummah.

A large number of families thronged the city’s parks and other resorts like Murree, Pir Sohawa and Daman-i-Koh while security in Murree was beefed up amid rush of tourists.

Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Rao Sardar Ali Khan, Commissioner Noorul Amin Mengal, Deputy Commissioner Tahir Farooq and CPO Syed Shehzad Nadim Bukhari visited the hill station and reviewed the arrangements made for facilitating the tourists on the eve of Eidul Azha.

As the government announced four public holidays, tens of thousands of citizens thronged the hill resort. Because of heavy deployment of traffic wardens, the traffic situation remained under control in Murree.

“The Punjab government is utilising all available resources to provide maximum facilities to tourists and families visiting the hill station to celebrate Eid,” said Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal.

He ordered the district government and police department heads to remain vigilant to tackle any kind of emergency situation in case of heavy rains predicted by the Met Office.

“Besides maintaining law and order, one should guide the tourists and the families,” he said.

Commissioner Mengal told Dawn that the idea of introducing free-of-cost shuttle bus service from Bhara Kahu to Murree was successful and a total of 14,085 people benefited from it.

He said due to this service, rush of vehicles reduced significantly and the traffic situation in the hill station remained under control.

Traffic wardens deployed

Over 360 traffic police officers were deployed by the city traffic police to assist tourists visiting Murree during the three days of Eidul Azha.

As many as 32,038 vehicles entered Murree and 28,128 left the hill station during the holidays.

Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Naveed Irshad supervised the arrangements as more than 1,380 tourists were guided and assisted by the traffic police personnel.

The traffic officials distributed awareness and safety pamphlets among 13,000 tourists, CTO Irshad said.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2022