Taluka municipal administrations of city and Latifabad and the Hyderabad Cantonment Board are shifting responsibility on each other for the condition of the Fatima Jinnah Road (Thandi Sarak), Makki Shah Road and the Pathan Colony Road.
The Fatima Jinnah Road where the circuit house and the district Nazim secretariat are located along with the Shahbaz Building that houses Sindh and district government department offices and the Municipal Zoo needs repairs but it has not yet been decided as to which body — the district government or the HCB — should look after the road.
It is posing a great danger to people, especially those driving motorcycles, as it has developed potholes at different places where sewage has accumulated. Road lights are also not functioning.
Ever since the heavy rains in July, one side of the road, that too badly damaged, is under use of vehicular traffic.
Talking to this correspondent, District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman said the district government had to maintain half of the road but the HCB insisted that the entire road was to be looked after by the HDA.
He said the district government would only be responsible for maintenance of the road if the HCB gave him in writing that it did not own the road.
He said the HCB received charges for hoarding and sewerage lines passing through the road, yet it disclaimed the road.
The Nazim said he would ask President Gen Pervez Musharraf during his visit to the district to decide the matter.
A source in the Water and Sanitation Agency said from Gymkhana to the Shahbaz Chowk, the road was to be looked after by the highways department.
Same is the case with the Makki Shah Road that connects Hyderabad and Latifabad.
One side of the road is closed for traffic for the last several months but the HCB has not started the repair work.
The other side of the road is to be maintained by TMAs of city and Latifabad.
HCB chief sanitary inspector Umer Gul said he had sent his report to the HCB for the repair of the road but the board was short of funds.
He said the situation could be improved by replacing sewerage lines on the Makki Shah Road, which would cost Rs2.5 million.
He rejected the claim of the district government and the HDA that the Fatima Jinnah Road was to be maintained by the HCB although he conceded that the board received fees for advertisement boards alongside the road.
The HCB has also constructed shops over a sewerage line in Pathan Colony as a result the line’s route had to be changed to release drainage and sewage water in the Jacob pond.