RAWALPINDI: Travelling on the dilapidated roads in the garrison city has become a nightmare for motorists and the recent spell of rain exposed the performance of civic agencies.

The roads in the garrison city have not been repaired for years and have become accident-prone.

After the monsoon rains, the roads have developed potholes and causing hazards for commuters.

Most of the broken roads included Kashmir Road, Range Road, Allahabad Road, Tench Bhatta Road, Zakria Masjid Road, Transit Camp Road, Dhoke Ratta, Workshop Road, Marrir Chowk Road, Rawal Road, Westridge Bazaar Road, Gowalmandi Road, Farooq-i-Azam Road, Sadiqabad Road and Railway Road.

In last two years, Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) did not launch any uplift project. The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) paid attention on The Mall and left the other areas neglected.

Recent rains exposed performance of civic agencies, say commuters

Motorists find it difficult to drive on cantonment roads due to countless potholes which result into traffic snarls at several places. Even public transporters face difficulty in driving on these roads while cabbies refuse to go to the downtown.

For example, the road from Marrir Chowk to Gawalmandi, Westridge Bazaar to Allahabad, Kashmir Road and others have developed ditches. At some places like Gowalmandi and Nogaza Road, open manholes in the middle of the roads also pose threat to commuters.

The residents of the downtown are disturbed over the situation and have demanded of the provincial government to fulfil its promise of launching public welfare projects.

“I daily travel on Gawalmandi Road to Saddar and my vehicle has developed faults due to the broken road. Will the government compensate us if our car gets damaged due to the broken roads,” said Nasir Hussain, a resident of Gawalmandi.

Mohammad Anwar, of Allahabad said his motorcycle developed faults due to the potholes on Allahabad Road and it was difficult for middle class people to spend heavy amounts on repair of their vehicles.

Ahmed Khan, a resident of Kashmiri Bazaar, said that residents of the area had been facing problems due to the bad condition of roads. Travel on the roads is time and fuel consuming, he added.

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner Tahir Farooq said that the district administration was aware of the problems being faced by the citizens.

“We have made a comprehensive plan to reconstruct all the roads in downtown area.”

He said that funds had been allocated for the task and soon work would be started. He said that the heavy rains had damaged the roads in the garrison city and work on the construction of the roads would be started soon after the monsoon season.

“We also started patchworks on roads in many areas till the construction work starts. During the monsoon season, the roads will not be reconstructed,” he said.

He said that the district administration had spent Rs300 million on rehabilitation of damaged roads in Murree due to landsliding.

He said 18 kilometres roads had been repaired and remaining work would be completed soon.

He said the basic aim of the reconstruction of roads in Murree was to keep the area connected with other parts of the country and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2022