MUZAFFARGARH, Jan 25: Construction companies working on the Taunsa Barrage Remodeling Project have made the life of commuters miserable as they throw the traffic out of gear for hours at the Taunsa bridge on the river Indus.

Long rows of vehicles could be seen on both sides of the bridge on Wednesday after construction companies had blocked the main road by installing a big crane right in the middle.

The Taunsa bridge connects Multan, Kot Addu, Layyah and Muzaffargarh with Taunsa, Shadan Lund, Indus Highway, Dhodhak, Wahuwa, Dera Ghazi Khan and Khairpur Sadat.

Akram, an employee of Bank of Punjab, complained that he could not make to his office in Kot Addu for the last two days because of the road blockade. He claimed that the company had not given any prior notice to the public.

Muhammad Inayat, a railway police constable, said that he was taking his pregnant wife to Kot Addu hospital for delivery, but his vehicle remained stuck there for hours.

He said that company officials had plainly turned down his request to let him cross the bridge even on passionate grounds. He said that he would not let off the construction company if any harm had happened to his wife.

“They block the passage on their own accord,” Sher Ali, who supplies milk from Shadan Lund to Kot Addu, said. The company never bothered to inform the commuters before hand, he said.

Several students and employees coming from Shadun Lund to Kot Addu and a large number of people from Kot Addu and Layyah could not also reach their destination.

When contacted, an official of a Chinese company To Moto said that no prior notice of the road blockade could be given because of the nature of work being carried out at the site.

He said the company had to suspend the traffic for two to five hours in accordance with the demand of the work.