GUJAR KHAN: Traders of Pind Dadan Khan observed a shutter-down strike while hundreds of residents staged protest rallies after Friday prayers to voice their demand for the restoration of funds for the construction of the ongoing project of the Jhelum-Lillah dual carriageway.

The protesters, under the banner of Jhelum-Lillah Working Committee, staged protest rallies for the third consecutive Friday, and have now threatened to block the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-2) at the Lillah interchange on June 7 if their demand was not accepted.

The Jhelum-Lillah dual carriageway project was approved after efforts made by Fawad Hussain Chaudhry, former MNA and federal minister, as an upgrade of the 129-kilometre road linkage from Jhelum city to the P.D. Khan and Lillah interchange of M-2.

The project, if completed, will not only provide easy access to the residents of dozens of towns and villages in Jhelum and Pind Dadan Khan but will also provide access to motorway as well, said Mohammad Waseem, a journalist in Pind Dadan Khan.

He said work on the project started in 2021 and later stopped, allegedly for political reasons. He said the old single road was dismantled by the contractor, leaving the denizens of the area without any proper road surface.

He said the business activities in Pind Dadan Khan and adjoining towns were disturbed as the transport of goods from Jhelum has been made difficult. Patients and women with delivery cases referred to the district headquarters hospital in Jhelum suffer the most as most of the basic health units (BHUs) in the tehsil were already without doctors.

Pir Anwar Qureshi Hashmi, who leads these processions, urged the chief minister Punjab to restore the funds for the project to resolve the traffic issues in the area.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2024