By Ibne Ahmad
The work for laying gas pipeline, a long standing demand of the residents of these areas, which began in December last, not only took away the walking facility from residents but also increased sound pollution in one of the central locations of the area. The gas pipeline, which when completed, was expected to facilitate the residents of the surrounding localities, rather increased the woes of the residents whose immediate concern became the walking facility as they could not use the road (which lacked sidewalks from the very first day of its emergence) due to construction material dumped by the contacting firm in the middle of the road.
The dug up area of the road for laying gas pipeline was also left unpaved. “Our main fear is that the residents here who don’t have cars and walk on foot may be hit by vehicles as they are forced to walk through the routine traffic jams here,” a resident, who did not wish to be named, complained. “There is not enough space inside and on the Service Road of the locality to keep the construction materials,” said a constructor’s spokesman. This scribe found a lot of construction material heaped on the sidewalk of the Service Road, which is quite a narrow pathway.
Many pedestrians, including old people and children, were nervously moving on the road as vehicles kept speeding past. They have a choice. There is another exit point located on the opposite side of the road. But the residents prefer this path and feel the loss. Even if construction materials such as huge sand heaps and crushed stones are removed from there, the pathway would never be the same again. But the contractor’s spokesman said the company is racing against time.
“We have just a limited deadline to complete the project. We know that we have kept some materials on the roadside. If they pose a problem to public, we will clear the mess once the project is complete.” But residents are not satisfied. “How can a private construction company use public property and not even bother to listen to our complaints? In the evenings, we cannot go for the usual walks. The serenity of this place is lost due to this construction activity,” said Muhammad Sarwar, a retired Civil Aviation angry resident.
“The company workers are using this road and they are still doing it,” said Hameed Rathore, another resident. “Last week, just before the closure of schools for security reasons, there could have been an accident here. Two students were walking home from school when a motor vehicle almost hit them,” he added. “Our children go walking to the schools which are located nearby. However, after this construction work for the road began and the contractor started dumping all sorts of stuff blocking our pathway, we are apprehensive of sending them to school on foot,” said another resident, who did not want to be named. “Most of the constructions in Rawalpindi city become a source of trouble for commuters and pedestrians. They are not done in the right manner. They require a lot of planning. There should be enough space for walking on foot. According to the rule, if you have space ‘a’ you can use only ‘a’ extent,” commented a civil engineer living in the same locality.