RAWALPINDI, Aug 20: As almost all educational institutions in Rawalpindi opened on Monday after the summer break, the National Highway Authority (NHA) is yet to assume its responsibility for the construction of a flyover at the Mehrabad intersection on Peshawar Road, one of the busiest roads of the city.

The NHA admits the intersection has been a big blunder technically that needs redesigning. Therefore, the authority plans to construct a flyover, the design of which has been completed and approved by NHA. It has been planned that traffic on Peshawar Road will use the flyover while the public transport and heavy vehicles entering the highway from Pirwadhai will pass beneath the flyover.

So far, no action is visible as when the actual work on the project will begin, and, in the meantime, the growing traffic has made lives of people miserable. There is a total mess of traffic at the Mehrabad intersection from dawn to dusk while the small contingent of traffic police looks helpless due to blatant violations on part of public transport drivers.

Light and heavy traffic on Peshawar Road in addition to the public transport leaving and entering the Pirwadhai bus terminal passes through the Mehrabad intersection. With the passage of time, a number of private bus and wagon stands have been developed on nearby areas. Some of the roads have been blocked and turned into parking bays.

Officially, there is no provision for setting up of any bus stop in the vicinity of the intersection, but throughout the day fleets of buses and wagons keep on blocking the road. On their part, passengers also encourage public transport to stop right at the intersection to pick them.

The display of no parking signs and effective law-enforcement would considerably help control the situation, but who will bell the cat - NHA, RCB or the traffic police.