JHANG, Sept 24 Pakistan People's Party central leader Syeda Abida Husain has stressed the need for building more bridges over the two major rivers to bridge the gap between this backward district and developed parts of the province.

Visiting the site for an under-construction bridge over the Chenab near Chand Bharwana along with a group of journalists, the former federal minister expressed her gratitude to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for ordering expeditious work on the bridge to complete it ahead of the schedule.

The bridge being constructed on Jhang-Sargodha Road is near completion and will replace the century-old rail-cum-road bridge a little upstream. The project was sanctioned by former prime minister Shaukat Aziz but work on it gained momentum in the current PPP setup. Ms Hussain said she took up the matter with the prime minister immediately after he assumed office and he directed the National Highway Authority to begin the project without delay.

However, she said, this one bridge would not alleviate the problems of the people and there were three more points where bridges were needed over the Chenab and Jhelum to provide easy access to the people of far-flung areas to the district headquarters and other important cities.

The river Jhelum enters Jhang district near Thatti Wanger and merges into the Chenab near Trimu headworks after covering some 80 kilometres in the district. The district has important villages and towns such as Bullo, Mari Shah Sakhura, Kot Shakir, Chandna and a mini-base and firing range of the PAF near Machiwal.

There is no bridge over the river on this entire stretch of 80 to 90 kilometres. If a bridge is constructed on the Jhelum near Kot Shakir, the distance between these areas and Jhang Saddar will be reduced by 50 kilometres.

This will also be the shortest route between Dera Ismail Khan and Lahore via Jhang and Darya Khan as a road between Kot Shair and Darya Khan already exists.

The public also demands a bridge over the Chenab, linking Shorkot with Ahmedpur Sial. When the latter place was a part of Shorkot tehsil, people had to travel 150 kilometres to reach the tehsil headquarters.

Another bridge between Massan and Jhang Saddar is needed to relieve the vast area of Massan which falls between the Jhelum and Chenab rivers and people have to travel 40 kilometres backwards to cross the Chenab near Chand Bharwana and then travel for another 20 kilometres in the opposite direction to reach Jhang.