Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Tuesday that Murree Expressway had been opened for traffic.
Talking to a private news channel, he said that tourists were still adamant that they should be allowed to enter the mountainside town of Murree despite a ban.
The minister said that carbon monoxide was the real cause of deaths in the Murree tragedy.
Meanwhile, Leader of the House in Senate Dr Shehzad Waseem on Tuesday stressed the need to build management capacity to avoid such tragedies in the future.
“We need to build administrative capacity and raise public awareness to avoid a recurrence of such incidents,” he said while participating in the debate on an adjournment motion regarding the Murree tragedy in the Upper House.
Dr Waseem said relief measures were taken in a short time.
He said that there should be no political point scoring on the incident. However, he added that the government would welcome positive suggestions from the opposition.
Leader of Opposition Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani said the responsibility for the Murree tragedy should not be placed solely on the government. He added that aid agencies and locals should not be blamed as they had played a significant role in the evacuation of stranded tourists during the blizzard.
Also, Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal on Tuesday visited Murree and directed officials concerned to oversee relief activities until the weather conditions improved.
Afzal said that in case of heavy snowfall, places for tourists’ stay should be identified. He asked the officers to set up three check-posts at the entry points of Murree and disallow the entry of vehicles more than the number fixed in view of possible weather hazards.
Separately, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed condolences on the death of 22 people after a deadly snowstorm trapped them in their vehicles as tens of thousands of tourists thronged the hill station of Murree.
