MANSEHRA: A cold wave swept through the Hazara Division on Saturday due to a heavy snowfall in mountains and downpour in plains.

The snowfall began in the early hours and continued intermittently throughout the day.

It snowed in the tourist destinations of Shogran, Kaghan, Siren and Konsh valleys in Mansehra and Kandia and Spat valleys in Kohistan.Police deployed personnel along the Mansehra-NaranJalkhad Road to prevent visitors from sneaking into Kaghan Valley, which has been closed to all types of vehicles since the first snowfall of the season was reported last November.

`Kaghan Valley is blocked and no one is allowed to proceed beyond a designated point before Naran town,` district police officer Shafiullah Khan Gandapur said.

He said all police posts in Kaghan Valley had been withdrawn from Babusar Top down to Naran and Kaghan.

The DPO also said people travelling to Shogran through a connecting artery from the MNJ Road in Kawai area were only allowed entry if they were using four-wheel-drive vehicles or cars with chained tyres.`Visitors should exercise extreme caution while travelling in hilly areas, as icy roads become dangerously slippery and could cause accidents,` he warned.

Meanwhile, Mansehra, Torghar, Lower and Upper Kohistan, and Kolai-Palas districts received heavy rainfall, breaking a prolonged dry spell.

The rainfall, which began in the early hours, continued throughout the day.

The rainwater flooded the Karakoram Highway, and other arteries in Mansehra city and its suburbs.

PROTEST: Traders in Jabori area in the Siren Valley took to the streets on Saturday to protest prolonged and unscheduled power outages.

`Power outages on the Jabar electric feeder have severelyaffectedfive union councils of Siren Valley,` trader leader Abdul Wahid Khan told protesters in the main bazaar amid sloganeering.

He said prolonged power cuts had paralysed life in Jabori, Schain, Bugemung, Panjul and Suma union councils, with the business community being worst affected.

The trader leader said both commercial and domestic consumers were denied electricity for long hours under the pretext of transmission line repairs and trimming of tree branches.

The protesters also formed a committee to take up the issue with Pesco and local lawmakers.

SHO of the Jabori police station Raja Mudassar persuaded protesters to disperse, promising an early resolution of theissue.

NOTICES: The BaffaPakhaltehsil municipal administration has issued notices to hundreds of shopkeepers, traders and market owners, asking them to remove encroachments from along the Karakoram Highway and in the city within a week to prevent strict action.

Tehsil municipal officer Farasat Awan said encroachments severely disrupted traffic on KKH and bazaars.

He said the district and tehsil administrations and police would participate in the antiencroachment crackdown. and said anyone who tried to take the law into their own hands would be dealt with strictly.

Residents also urged the administration to reclaim the illegally occupied land along the KKH.