CHAKWAL, Sept 29: With Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif firmly focused on initiating mega projects in Lahore like the metro bus service and ring road, the situation of roads in some of the remote districts of the province is getting from bad to worse.

Take for instance Chakwal and Jhelum — two adjoining districts of Rawalpindi division. Roads leading to remote villages in the districts are in a shambles for the last many years.

Chakwal district has 2,500km-long road network which passes through an area of 6,524 square km and connects villages to their tehsil headquarters. The damaged roads must be repaired on annual basis but for the last one decade not a penny has been spent on their rehabilitation.

“We are facing a lot of problems because of the broken road,” said Raja Khalid, a resident of Kalyal village located some 25km away to the east of Chakwal city.

This road which connects more than 20 villages to Chakwal city has not been repaired for the last 25 years.

The same is the case with roads leading to Khanwal village located 30km north-west side of Chakwal city.

“Politicians only visit us during election days and promise to carry out development work once elected, but as soon as the election fever dies out, so do their promises,” says Tariq Murtaza Hashmi, a resident of Khanwal village.

The roads leading to the remote villages of Talagang, Choa Saidan Shah and Kallar Kahar are also in a poor state. There are even some roads which have not been repaired for the last 30 years.

A similar situation exits in Jhelum district, which has a road network of 1,276km.

Roads which pass through the hilly terrain have become death traps for travellers.

The road from Aara village (some 50km away from Chakwal city) located in the hilly terrain of the Salt Range, which connects Chakwal and Jhelum, has not been repaired for the last 30 years. The recent rains have further damaged the road.

“To travel on this road is very risky because of its poor shape. We therefore use Pind Dadan Khan Road whenever we have to go to Chakwal,” said Mohammad Aslam, a resident of Rawal village located in Pind Dadan Khan tehsil of Jhelum.

The recent rains have also swept away a road that connected Jhelum with Baghan Wala village. The village is known for Nandna Fort, an ancient heritage site.

“We have voted for the PML-N on the condition that the party would fix our problems after coming to power. We are still waiting for our rulers to pay attention to the road networks,” said Raja Qalb Abbas, a resident of Baghan Wala.

The same is the case with roads leading to Sadowal village and dozens of other villages of Jhelum located in Pind Dadan Khan.

“I am pained to see the plight of the roads but I’m helpless,” said an official in the road department. He said he feared the road networks would collapse if urgent attention was not paid to them.

When contacted, District Officer of Roads Chakwal, Ghulam Hussain, told Dawn that his department did not have a penny to repair roads.

“We need at least Rs300 million to repair the roads of the district,” he said.

District Officer of Roads, Jhelum, Mohammad Bux Sial while talking to Dawn, said that his department required Rs105 million for the rehabilitation of the roads.