Liveability is a key issue in Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi: It is in our cities and local communities, where we spend most of our lives. It is here where we live and earn our living, our children grow up, our grandchildren, and the generations to come. Therefore, liveability is a key issue in the planning of urban environments.

“To restore the beauty and integrity of Rawalpindi administrative, local bodies, development authorities, and the police must devise a comprehensive plan to eliminate encroachments from footpaths, service roads, green belts, walkways, and streets,” says Azlan Ali.

“Local bodies must make this city liveable. The removal of overhead cables is essential. This effort should be part of a broader strategy to enhance the city’s infrastructure and public spaces,” says Rizwan Haider.

“Encroachments on walkways, green belts, and streets have defaced the city and caused serious issues in the flow of traffic even for the pedestrians but no authority is ready to remove them,” says Jawad Rizvi. “No institution has the authority to allow encroachments, how some private offices have installed their generators on the footpath under the nose of the concerned local body. The development authorities should clarify their role and responsibilities. The local bodies’ anti-encroachment wings were not as active as they should have been,” says Samar Hussain.

“The administration should remove encroachments from the public spaces with the support of the police. Give appropriate time to the encroachers and launch a vigorous operation,” says Rauf Hasan.

“Debris and construction materials on the footbaths, service roads, and even the main roads are a menacing sight. The authorities should get an undertaking from all the builders while permitting them that they would not use public spaces for dumping the construction material. The administration should launch a drive against private builders, impose heavy fines against them, and seize their material,” says Wasiq Raza.

“The authorities grant road-cutting permission and collect charges but fail to reconstruct the roads. There should be a revision of charges for road cutting and a mechanism to reconstruct the dug-up road within three months. There must be a certification procedure,” says Azhar Ali.

“There are various illegally charged parking spots developed on the roads. This illegal parking is causing serious traffic issues. The local government and other concerned authorities should notify the parking officially in consultation with the traffic police and remove all the unauthorised ones,” says Salman Abbas.

“Most of the shopping plazas have their parking areas, but they have converted them into warehouses and have rented them out. Prepare the list of the shopping plazas having parking areas to launch operations against them and solve illegal parking issues,” says Wahid Mahdi.

Jalal Sadiq says, “The mapping of the city for billboards should take place for installation at the designated site as per approved size. The billboards installed on the rooftops are hazardous.”