MANSEHRA: Two tourists were killed when a car plunged into a ravine near Lolusar Lake in Kaghan valley here on Sunday.

The car was on way back to Abbottabad from Babusar Top when the driver lost control over it while negotiating a sharp turn on the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road.

The local people shifted the injured to the Civil Hospital Kaghan, where doctors pronounced Usman Ali and Zulfiqar Ali Khan of Abbottabad as dead.

In another incident, a young boy drowned while taking bath in Siren River on Sunday.

Shinkiari police, after receiving information that two boys had drowned in the river, reached the spot and rescued one of them namely Mohammad Fahad, and body of the other identified as Mohammad Qasim was fished out later.

ANTI-ENCROACHMENT OPERATION: Deputy commissioner Dr Qasim Ali Khan has said the anti-encroachment operation will continue until all the buildings and structures coming in the right-of-way of Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road are razed up to Babusar Top.

“The operation is being carried out on the orders of PHC. Shelters and tented villages, which plagued the natural beauty of Naran, have been removed during the operation,” Dr Ali told a meeting of the affected traders on Sunday.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, who recently visited Kaghan valley, had directed the departments concerned to preserve the ecology and natural beauty of the valley.

The deputy commissioner assured the traders that they would be accommodated in the new proposed commercial spaces.

“We have banned construction along the Kunhar River and MNJ, and those who want to construct commercial or private buildings will have to get the designs approved from the Kaghan Development Authority,” Dr Ali said.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2021