December 12, 2007	Wednesday	Zilhaj 1, 1428

JHANG, Dec 11: The age-old Riwaz bridge over the river Chenab saw yet another traffic snarl-up, thanks to illegal entry of heavy vehicles with the alleged connivance of the police personnel posted at either end of the bridge.

Monday night’s was probably the worst traffic jam the bridge has ever seen, with heaving vehicles stopping the flow of a sea of cars for 20 hours.

Hundreds of vehicles stranded in miles-long queues on both sides of the river during the rainy night when a 22-wheeler trailer, a banned vehicle, overturned just close to the bridge. The Riwaz bridge is rail-cum-road bridge over the Chenab, about 15 kilometres from Jhang on Sargodha Road.

The century-old bridge, which undergoes extensive repairs every year to keep it operational, cannot afford to allow vehicles beyond a certain load to cross it.

Owned by the Pakistan Railways which collects the toll from the vehicles taking the route, the bridge has long been declared a no-go area for the heavy vehicles posing a threat to all the motorists.

Hoardings warning the heavy transport against using the bridge have been erected well ahead of the ‘danger zone’ on either side, also guiding the drivers to adopt alternative routes.

The warning goes unheeded most of the time as the Riwaz bridge offers a short-cut to the drivers who head towards Sargodha. The drivers allegedly grease the palms of the police posted at the bridge as well the Jhang traffic police who allow them passage to the bridge. It is also alleged that the drivers pay more than the prescribed amount to the railways toll contractor.

The mess that often appears after accident of a heavy vehicle not only makes the people suffer, but also reduces the life of the bridge itself. No police official was available to comment the situation.

The station master of Chund Bharwana railway station, which is about five kilometres from the bridge, told Dawn by phone that the damaged trailer had so far not been removed from the accident scene near the bridge mouth of the western river bank.

However, he said, the railway track was unaffected and its traffic on the Shorkot-Sargodha section was going on as usual.

The light traffic on the Jhang-Sargodha Road had been restored through a makeshift lane alongside the river, he said, but the heavy traffic was suspended on the route linking Multan with Sargodha and Islamabad.

The commuters of stranded buses traversed on foot up to 15 kilometres to Jhang to catch buses for the onward journey.

Eyewitnesses who reached Jhang told Dawn that the district administration and police were not taking interest in removing the damage vehicles blocking the traffic.

There were hundreds of vehicles gridlocked till last reports came in.