BISHAM/ALPURI: The Bisham-Swat Road and other link routes still remained closed for more than 48 hours due to heavy snowfall, causing severe hardship for hundreds of passengers, including women, children and elderly people.
Travellers heading from Swat to Shangla said traffic came to a complete standstill near Topsin on the first day of snowfall, where hundreds of vehicles were stranded due to heavy accumulation of snow and blocked sections of the road.
Passengers were seen waiting in freezing conditions with no immediate relief or clear instructions from the authorities. As snowfall intensified, snow depth increased from two to three feet at various points, reaching nearly four feet at Shangla Top. In the absence of effective government machinery, people offering snow chains were seen exploiting the situation, charging stranded motorists between Rs3,000 and Rs5,000 to install chains on vehicles.
Witnesses said that no bulldozers or tractors were seen in the Swat jurisdiction to clear the road. At Shangla Top, a tractor bearing the National Highway Authority (NHA) banner was present, but its driver reportedly told police officials that the vehicle lacked sufficient power to remove the heavy snow.
Shangla Assistant Commissioner Abdul Qayyum and his team were present at the site and claimed that the road up to Alpuri had been cleared. However, contrary to these claims, many people were forced to continue their journey on foot due to impassable road conditions.
A distressing incident was witnessed when several people were seen carrying a woman on a cot through the snow. The woman was reportedly an emergency maternity case being brought from a nearby locality to reach a hospital. Due to the road blockade, the patient was temporarily placed at a roadside garage along with accompanying women.
Upon being informed, AC Abdul Qayyum agreed to transport the patient to a hospital in his official vehicle. However, due to continued road closure, it remained unclear whether or not the patient reached a medical facility on time. Travellers reported that it took nearly three additional hours to reach Alpuri, the district headquarters of Shangla.
Along the route, elderly people were seen carrying their belongings on their shoulders, while youths appeared to be walking long distances to reach examination centres for the ETEA test.The incident has once again raised serious questions about emergency preparedness and winter response measures on one of the most important connecting highways of the region. Despite being a vital artery linking Swat and Shangla, the Bisham-Swat road remained inaccessible, leaving citizens to fend for themselves in extreme weather conditions.
Also, the power supply system severely disrupted as the main transmission line to Alpuri and surrounding areas had been badly affected due to broken poles and snapped wires at many locations.
Major highways, including Alpuri-Mingora and Alpuri-Bisham, could not be opened for heavy traffic. Authorities have imposed a complete ban on the entry of vehicles without snow chains. As a result, hundreds of thousands of residents are facing severe hardships.
Several roads, including Alpuri Roard to Puran, Karora to Chakesar and Kana roads and others remained blocked due to heavy snowfall in these areas.A post from the Deputy Commissioner Shangla’s official page claimed that various roads had been cleared and traffic restored. This claim drew strong backlash, with hundreds of residents criticising the district administration’s performance and alleging that officials have fallen under the influence of a powerful mafia, presenting a false picture that contradicts ground realities.
Regarding electricity, the SDO of Wapda said that the Kotkay gridstation, which supplies power to Shangla, had suffered damage at many points due to broken transmission lines. A team from Mardan is working on repairs, while restoration of the Alpuri-Kotkay line is underway, though heavy snowfall continues to hamper efforts.
The heavy snowfall that began on Thursday not only crippled daily life in Shangla but also exposed the poor performance of the district administration and the lack of preparedness of the NHA, which reportedly does not even have complete details of the roads under its control in the district.
Shangla, a district with a population of nearly one million, has five TMAs, the Local Government Department and the C&W Department, yet not a single heavy bulldozer is available for emergency use.
