The increasing vehicular traffic in Mingora city has multiplied public woes, creating numerous problems for the residents and business community.

People in Swat say that the traffic issue remains unaddressed for the last 35 years, resulting in massive traffic jams. They cited various reasons, including traffic pressure and congestion in Mingora, for the worsening situation. They say that the heavy inflow of non-custom paid (NCP) vehicles, a huge number of illegal rickshaws, poor traffic control system, negligence of traffic wardens, parking on main roads and encroachments have added to their woes.

They complain that traffic wardens and police only treat public transporters strictly while car owners and well-off people go unchecked despite frequent violations of traffic rules.

As the Customs Act 1969 has not been imposed in Malakand division, including Swat valley, the area is safe for NCP vehicles where thousands of illegal vehicles are being smuggled from Afghanistan.

“Swat is one of the major markets for NCP vehicles. The NCP scheme here offers a latest model vehicle on one-third less amount. A 2010 model Premio car is available at Rs600,000 to Rs700,000. As such, every other person in Swat has a good looking car which has created chaos on the city roads,” said Zahoor Jan, demanding that further inflow of NCP vehicles must be stopped.

Over 16,000 rickshaws move on the narrow roads of Mingora, causing air and noise pollution besides frequent traffic jams. Of the total, about 3,000 three-wheelers are illegal.

The illegal two-stroke rickshaws have been brought from Mardan, DI Khan, Nowshera, Karak, Peshawar, Karachi, Lahore and Charsadda. “We have 11 rickshaws with the same number plate while there are over 30 rickshaws with the same registration number in Watkey area,” a rickshaw driver told Dawn.

Lack of parking facilities in Mingora is another problem. “There is no parking facility in Mingora and those who come here for shopping leave their vehicles on both sides of roads, adding to the traffic jams everywhere,” said Hazir Gul, a civil society member. Also, the shopkeepers park their cars just in front of their shops and when customers come they also park their vehicles wherever they like.

“One can see unending line of vehicles parked by shopkeepers in front of their shops in the main bazaar which they consider their right,” Akbar Ali, a youth activist, said.

In early 2015, Malakand division commissioner had asked all the owners to construct underground parking in their under-construction buildings, but it proved shallow order. “Construction on several buildings started just after the commissioner’s order, but nobody followed it. Surprisingly, no action was taken against the violators,” said Shah Wazir.

Traders and residents have suggested construction of parking lots in various parts of Mingora. “We have streams running through various bazaars which can serve for huge parking as well as for vendors if bridge-like roofs are installed on the streams,” said Fazal Rabi, a social activist. He said that it would also be a modest source of revenue for the municipality. All the roads in Swat were constructed before 1969, but no government afterwards made any effort to resolve traffic issues or widen the roads despite rapid increase of population and traffic.

Residents of Mingora also suggested for an efficient but affordable public transport system from Saidu Sharif to the different parts of the district.

“Unfortunately, no government in the past planned to start a public transport system with a network to all the seven tehsils. If we had a good transport system, people would not use private cars or rickshaws in such a great numbers,” said Mr Rabi.

All the present roads in Mingora were constructed keeping in view 100,000 population at that time. Today, the population of Mingora has exceeded 700,000 using the same roads,” said Niaz Ahmad, a resident. He said that there was an immediate need for building a circular road, bypasses, etc to ease the traffic pressure.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2015

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