SIALKOT, Oct 24: Unbridled overloading on boats in the river Tavi poses a serious threat to human lives, as it has already taken its toll owing to alleged slackness of the district government.

The nasty practice has claimed several lives in the recent past.

These boats, very few in number, are the only source of transporting thousands of people of Bajwat’s 85 border-area villages along the Sialkot Working Boundary as there is no bridge over the Tavi. A belly bridge over the river collapsed during the floods in July last.

The villagers are literally at the mercy of boatmen, who often overload their vehicles and overcharge the commuters for transporting them and their goods from the river’s one bank to the other near Saidpur-Bajwat Pattan.

The local boatmen load buffaloes, cows, other cattle, motorcycles and even cars, putting the lives of all those travelling at risk. A boat can accommodate not more than 15 people but their owners overload those and charge double fares i.e Rs10 from each passenger against the district administration’s clear-cut instructions.

Some councillors, who travel by these boats, told Dawn that the practice of overloading by the boatmen had become a constant threat to them. They said each visit to the other side of the river had become perilous, as the wooden boats were already damaged and can hardly accommodate a few people. These boats had already been declared unfit for transportation.

“Boat capsize incidents in the past two years have already claimed several lives, but the authorities concerned have yet to take an appropriate action against the violators.”

Ironically, the area falls in the electoral constituencies of National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Ameer Husain and Punjab Industries Minister Muhammad Ajmal Cheema, who have not bothered to do the needful.

Local villagers have time and again protested against the indifference of the political bigwigs who, they said, had not paid any attention to the grim reality on account of their political differences.

The government, said the villagers, had started construction of a big bridge over the river one and-a-half years ago at a cost of Rs160 million but the project had fallen a victim to political rivalry. Inordinate delay in the completion of the bridge was aggravating this situation, the said.