KARACHI: Most Lyari roads in dilapidated condition
By Latif Baloch
KARACHI, March 21: Almost the entire road network in Lyari Town is in shambles and requires immediate repair but the town administration’s efforts to include the network in the ongoing development scheme have so far failed.
The administration has approached the city government for trench repair of at least the main roads in the town for which it had already issued tenders.
Faced with shortage of funds and keeping in view the mounting public pressure, the municipal administration of the town had urged the city government a few months back to include five major roads — Shah Latif Bhittai Road, Chawkiwara Road, Tannery Road, Shah Waliullah Road and Sheedi Village Road — in the ongoing development schemes.
The town administration had maintained that due to the budgetary constraints, it could not carry out repair work as almost all the roads in the town had been dug up by the Water and Sanitation Department of the city government.
The trench repair of Shah Latif Bhittai Road, was started by the W&S Department before Eidul Azha but stopped abruptly and now it is yet to be resumed.
During the digging process, the road cutting work has totally destroyed the entire artery which has developed potholes and patches at various places causing immense hardship to commuters and pedestrians.
The gravels, abandoned by the W&SD much before the Eid, along the road have adding to their miseries.
“It’s waste of public money... it clearly indicates that either public servants are not accountable or they are not interested in the development activities,” one of the residents of the area protested.
The condition of Shah Latif Bhittai Road and its link roads, including Ahmed Shah Bukhari Road, Fida Hussain Shaikha Road, Haji Pir Mohammed Road and D. D. Chaudhry Road, has deteriorated over the past few years.
A survey of the area shows that the condition of other main roads in the town is no different. Some of them, Sheedi Village Road, Faqir Mohammad Durra Khan and Juna Kumharwara Road and Chawkiwara Road linking the town with the main commercial zone, Lea Market, also present a pathetic view.
These routes of commercial importance are in a dilapidated condition due to the hectic transport activity. Ever since the conversion of Lea Market into a bus terminus by the organized ‘transport mafia’, the condition of these roads has gradually deteriorated.
Residents of the area as well as shopkeepers and businessman community have constantly been expressing concern over the indifferent attitude of competent authorities in improving the road communication. Most of the frequent visitors are of the view that travelling on these roads has become a nerve-racking experience.
During the survey, most of the people pointed out that no repair work had been carried out on the main thoroughfares and side street in the locality for the two decades.
The residents of Baghdadi said that repair work had never been carried out on Fida Hussain Shaikha Road for more than a decade only because of the neglect on the part of the relevant authorities. They said that wide potholes had turned the roads and streets absolutely unusable.
Similar situation is visible on the road linking Mauripur Road and Sheedi Village Road. It begins from the People’s Play Ground and passes through Nawabad, Darayabad and Baghdadi. This road is a very important passage for the residents of all these localities for being the shortest route to fish harbour and Mauripur.
Haji Pir Mohammad Road, Mir Mohammad Baloch Road, D. D. Chaudhary Road and Ahmed Shah Bukhari Road are virtually closed for vehicular traffic and provide no facility to pedestrians for want of repair work.
Barring a few examples, no attention has been paid to road communication in the town for several decades and the recent digging by various utility agencies have caused further damage to many of the roads.
The survey shows that the work being carried out in the name of development has only brought more miseries to the people of the town and those who have to visit the town for different purposes. The relevant authorities have no other excuse but ‘shortage of funds’ in restoring the shape of roads which has been destroyed by no other people but the same crusaders of development and the transport mafia.
