LANDI KOTAL: Severe cold gripped various parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas and paralysed normal life due to the fresh spell of rains and snowfall.

The cold coupled with excessive power loadshedding and soaring prices of essential commodities forced scores of families of Landi Kotal tehsil in Khyber Agency to shift to Peshawar.

Landi Kotal and its adjoining areas received heavy snow for the third time in the current winter. The miseries of locals were intensified by power loadshedding. The duration of loadshedding sometimes reaches to 20 hours a day.

Said Ahmad, a tyre dealer, told Dawn that he shifted his family to Gulbarg area of Peshawar owing to prolonged loadshedding and a constant increase in the prices of liquefied gas, kerosene oil and firewood.

“I have to arrange the weddings of my two sons in Peshawar owing to lack of facilities in Landi Kotal,” he said, adding that at least three of his neighbouring families also shifted to Peshawar during the current winter.

The family of Haji Swaid (late) also shifted to Lahore for the same reasons. His son Suhail Khan, a crockery dealer, said that it was almost impossible for them to continue living in Landi Kotal in such difficult situation.

He said that law and order had become a secondary issue for locals and those, who could afford a living outside Landi Kotal, were seriously contemplating to move out of the area.

Qismatullah, a resident of Khugakhel, said that it was becoming difficult for him to survive in his meagre resources. He said that he had to rely on firewood, kerosene oil and liquefied gas in the chilly weather owing to power loadshedding.

Doctors at the Agency Headquarters Hospital said that chest problems among older people and pneumonia among infants were on the rise due to sever cold.

All routes to Tirah valley were also closed due to heavy snowfall. The closure of roads resulted in shortage of food items in the area and forced people to stay indoors.

In Upper Dir, heavy rain and snowfall during the last two days disturbed normal life. The rain, started on Saturday night and snowfall started on Sunday, continued till Monday.

Forty six millimetres rain and more than two feet snow were recorded at mountains areas of Doog Darra, Dobando, Barikot, Upper Brawal, Lowari, Brawal while nine inches snow fell in Dir town during the last three days.

Heavy snowfall also disrupted supply of electricity to most parts of the district.

According to a press release of ISPR, the main Dir-Chitral road and Lowari tunnel were opened to traffic with the help of heavy machinery. But most of links roads in Brawal and Kohistan were closed to traffic.

The residents of these areas told Dawn by telephone that snowfall had caused shortage of essential commodities there.

In Mansehra, the Kaghan valley, known for its scenic beauty and pleasant weather, has witnessed a record cold this winter.

“I am 75 but I didn’t experience such chilly weather, which has gripped the valley now,” Aqib Deen, a resident of Rajwal area of Kaghan, told journalists on Monday.

“The environment of Kaghan valley has rapidly been changing since October 8, 2005 earthquake,” he added. He said that Kaghan road was blocked for many days but it was reopened on the advice of Provincial Minister Syed Ahmad Hussain Shah.

The upper parts of Hazara also received rains and snowfall on second consecutive day on Monday. The rain, started early in the morning in Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan and Torghar, continued intermittently for the whole day.

Many link roads were blocked due to continuous snowfall in Konsh, Siren and Kaghan valleys.