LAHORE: The pathetic condition of roads in Gulberg II (N-Block, Industrial Area) exposes the government’s apathy towards solving the civic issue as no one even bothered to survey the area and launch patchwork or reconstruction.

The residents have threatened that they will hold a protest demonstration if the roads are not constructed.

“We face a great deal of difficulty while using these roads that become impassable in monsoon,” said Shahid. “We will hold protest demonstrations if the roads are not repaired. The rundown roads damage vehicles and cause accidents on a daily basis,” he said.

The roads such as Gurumangat Road, Riaz Ali Sheikh Road and another having a beverage factory, media offices and residential area have been in a state of disrepair since the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) dug their portions to lay drainage pipes before the 2018 general election. This process further damaged the roads as Wasa disappeared after earth-filling.

An LDA spokesman said he would take up the issue with the Urban Development Wing. “I don’t know whether patchwork / reconstruction of these roads is included in the list of several major roads or not. But I will take up this issue with the UD wing on Saturday (today),” he said.

He claimed that the LDA had allocated Rs580 million for construction / patchwork of various roads.

“These funds were from the LDA’s budget for the last fiscal year that ended on June 30. For the ongoing fiscal year, the funds for our annual budget are yet to be released. As we are expecting funds soon, we will allocate these for construction of the battered roads,” he said.

People also complain about the illegal parking lot of mini trucks on Riaz Ali Road (in front of an under-construction hotel).

According to a shopkeeper, initially the owner of a mini truck would park his vehicle on the roadside. But later the space turned into a mini truck stand leading to traffic congestion on a 50-foot wide road.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2019