PESHAWAR, April 23: The growing volume of heavy traffic passing through residential areas is creating numerous problems for the residents of Hayatabad Township.

Residents of Hayatabad complained to Dawn that heavy traffic was mostly being diverted from the adjacent Ring Road, which passes through the middle of the township.

They said roads in residential areas are now increasingly used for transportation of commercial goods to the adjoining industrial estate and the Khyber Agency. Similarly, they said, Afghan transit and exports goods as well as supplies for Nato forces stationed in war-ravaged Afghanistan are also transported through the Ring Road that subsequently passes through the residential areas.

According to local people, daily at least 2,000 heavy vehicles ply on the Ring Road as a result of which it has been damaged at several places. They added that the movement of heavy traffic on the roads had generated a multitude of problems for them.

“This heavy commercial traffic has not only caused air, noise and dust pollution, but is also causing a large number of throat, eye and chest infections in both children and adults, which might eventually result in cancers,” said Abdul Ghafoor, a resident of the area.

Apart from causing inconvenience to the locals, movement of such heavy traffic may damage buildings located on both sides of the Ring Road as the vibrations caused by the movement of the vehicles may be affecting their foundations.

The residents of the township said that senior officials of the City Development and Municipal Department were behaving like silent spectators as they ignored the problems posed by the heavy vehicles.