RAWALPINDI:Commissioner Rawalpindi Division, Gulzar Hussain Shah on Saturday said monitoring and response system of the Punjab government was effectively working in Murree and all available resources were being utilized to rescue all the stranded tourists.
Talking to media persons in Murree he said that he was supervising relief and rescue operation launched to evacuate stranded tourists.
He said, all the administration officers including Deputy Commissioner, Rawalpindi Muhammad Ali and other officers concerned were present in the field.
He informed that a large number of vehicles and tourists stranded due to heavy snowfall were safely evacuated.
He said Chief Secretary Punjab was also monitoring the operation.
The Commissioner said there was no vehicle stranded on Murree Expressway as all the vehicles trapped on Expressway were evacuated due to concerned efforts made by the administration, police and Rescue-1122. The administration was providing food and other essential items to the tourists, he added.
He said that he was in contact with commissioner Hazara and efforts were being made from both sides, Murree and Abbottabad to clear the road and main focus was to clear road at the earliest up to ‘Barian’.
The situation could had been worse if solid steps were not taken in time and rescue and rescue operation was not launched on Friday night, he added.
Deputy Commissioner, Rawalpindi, City Police Officer, Rawalpindi, Assistant Commissioners of Murree and Kotli Sattian and other officers remained in the field on Friday night and monitored all the activities launched to rescue stranded tourists, he said.
Meanwhile, a district administration spokesman informed that special control rooms had been set up in Commissioner Office Rawalpindi and Provincial Disaster Management Authority.
He said, the authorities concerned of Rawalpindi District administration, Rescue-1122 and Police had been directed to accelerate the ongoing operation to rescue all the stranded tourists in Murree.
The citizens could contact on 051-9269016, 051-9292963 and 03005540819 to get information, he said.
The government of Punjab declared an emergency in the hill station after heavy snowfall and severe traffic congestion on the roads, he said.
Chief Minister had directed Chief Secretary, Punjab, Inspector General of Police, Punjab, Relief Commissioner, Director General, Rescue-1122 and DG Provincial Management Development Authority to expedite the activities to rescue all the stranded citizens on priority basis, he added.
According to Rescue-1122 spokesman, total 19 persons identified as Zahid son of Zahoor, 27, resident of Kamalabad, M. Ishfaq s/o Younis, 31, r/o Gujranwala, Maroof s/o Ashraf, 31, r/o Lahore, Naveed Iqbal s/o Muraqab Khan, 49, (ASI Islamabad Police) r/o Islamabad, Mrs, Naveed Iqbal, 43, four daughters and two sons of Naveed Iqbal, under 15 years of age, Sohail Khan s/o Fazal Rehman, r/o Mardan, Asad s/o Fazal Rehman, 27, r/o Madran, M. Bilal s/o M Ghaffar, 21, r/o Mardan, M.Bilal Hussain s/o Syed Ghous Khan, 24, r/o Karachi, M Shahzad s/o Ismail, 46, with wife and a daughter, r/o Rawalpindi, in four vehicles trapped due to heavy snowfall on Kuldanna road towards Abbottabad on Friday night were found dead.