Urbanisation plagues Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi : Rawalpindi, once known to be a peaceful residential city, has transformed into an ugly concrete jungle and a commuter’s worst nightmare.

“When it comes to ‘class’, Satellite Town was one locality that had it all. I put it in the past tense, as the word class finds no place in the present Satellite Town scenario anymore. Indiscriminate construction of high-rises and germination of commercial organisations has invaded it now,” says Ansar Naqvi. “Urbanisation seems to be the epidemic that is plaguing

our beloved city. The sophisticated fairy-tale houses

and quiet alleys are now traffic-infested roads, choking with open garbage dumps,” says Sajjad Zaidi.

“Most of the peaceful residential areas of the city are full of banks, clinics, schools, and too many other commercial concerns. The city is now a concrete jungle,” says Semeen Hasan. “In some areas, there were once houses with lawns and lush greenery; there are now concrete grey and drab-looking apartment complexes. All the previous dreams for the city are now in the past, only to be looked back with nostalgia,” adds Semeen.

“The Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) must have been on vacation while the drainage system of the city was made because every year, right about the monsoon time, the city is heavily hit with a torrent of rainfall creating miniature floods,” says Mishaal Hussain. “It is one thing to have a poetic affiliation with rain but quite another to have the vilest of raw sewage floating around your ankles and to be forced to withstand the smell of long decomposed dirt,” adds Mishaal. “Nonetheless, the water usually disappears within an hour or two, leaving behind thick sticky mud pies on the road, all ready for the speeding and screeching tires to generously bombard the pedestrians with,” says Hussain, Mishaal’s life partner.