CHITRAL, March 6 The National Highway Authority (NHA) has opened the unfinished Lowari tunnel to public for one hour daily to enable stranded passengers leave and enter the district, sources said here on Friday.

The NHA operated two vans through the tunnel carrying 16 persons each but hundreds of passengers had to go back from Dir side of the tunnel, passengers reaching here said.

The NHA has reportedly decided to operate only two trips daily which would help 32 passengers to go on either side but the strength of the passengers was estimated to be three times more than the allowed number.

Residents of the district have demanded of the government to increase the duration to accommodate more passengers. This would not affect the pace of work in the tunnel because each trip took about fifteen minutes and four trips could be arranged in one hour.

Strangely enough, the district nazim and district coordination officer were not aware of the arrangement made by the NHA. When contacted, they expressed their ignorance about the introduction of the service. Chitral DCO claimed that according to his knowledge, no such decision had been taken either by the provincial or the federal government.

PML-N MEETS The PML-N held a meeting at Drosh town to protest the disqualification of Sharif brothers and imposition of governor rule in Punjab.

Speakers Fazlur Rehman, Zar Ajam, Sajidullah, Irshad Javed and others alleged that President Zardari was involved in the conspiracy to get the PML-N leaders disqualified. They said party leadership would not deviate an inch from its stand to struggle for revival of the November 2, 2007 judiciary and they were ready for any sacrifice in this regard.

They said that maximum number of party workers would participate in the long march which would be a decisive step for the emancipation of the judiciary.

HEALTH DEPT The president of Paramedical Association Chitral Khurshid Ahmed has alleged that the district executive officer health was incapable of running the office as the department was deteriorating day by day.

Talking to the media here, he said that the association had decided to initiate movement against the department to bring about positive changes in it. He alleged large-scale irregularities in appointments to various posts in the department and said that EDO health had a central role in it.