Encroachments on roads add to traffic mess

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has spent huge funds on an important road project that linked many places with each other and provided an easy access to the residents but the government has failed to remove encroachments, particularly in Board Bazaar and Nasir Bagh Road occupied by the people for business and commercial activities.

The residents of Peshawar appreciated the PTI government for initiating this crucial project and hoped it would provide them an alternative route to avoid University Road where traffic always remains stuck due to a host of reasons.

However, the project didn’t help the residents of Peshawar accordingly as the road in Nasir Bagh and Board Bazaar is yet to be purged of encroachers.

Interestingly, people have set up makeshift shops and others have parked pushcarts selling fruit and vegetables just in the middle of the road.

It’s a two-lane road and can help reduce traffic burden on University Road if the government removed encroachments.

One is unable to understand as to who, in fact, is ruling the province. Often it is stated that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan is complaining of lack of power to effectively rule the province. Now the question is who has stopped the chief minister and his government machinery from recovering the state land, particularly roads in the provincial capital, to ensure smooth flow of traffic.

Keeping in view the worst traffic jam on each and every road in the city, apparently due to poor traffic engineering and ill-planned BRT (Bus Rapid Transit), the residents of Peshawar think three times before they leave home, particularly those who travel in their own cars.

“It takes three hours to come to our private clinics in Dabgari Gardens locality of the city due to traffic mess on University Road, where the existing road has been narrowed to pave the way for the BRT,” said a doctor.

The residents want Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to give the task to Capital City Police Officer Qazi Jamilur Rahman and Deputy Commissioner Imran Hamid Sheikh to make a proper plan for removing encouragements in the whole city, particularly those using roads for business activities.

“I don’t understand why the government then spent too much amount on this important project when it couldn’t remove encroachments from the main road? I think this government is not even aware of this issue, though local people had brought it into the notice of the deputy commissioner and district nazim,” said Hameedullah Jan, a Peshawar-based journalist.

He said the chief minister should show his strength and make government officials answerable for their failures to deliver.

The previous PTI government started this project that began all along from Nasir Bagh and Regi towns in the suburbs of Peshawar and while passing through different places on backside of University Town reached Ring Road.

The canal had covered a large space and the government reduced its size by erecting cement walls and widened the road for traffic. The government built a wide road on both sides of the canal that gave an alternative route to people.

It would have been better had the government either built an under-ground road or an overhead bridge to link Nasir Bagh Road to its other side in Board Bazaar over Jamrud Road.

A former deputy commissioner, Riaz Mehsud, had carried out extensive operations against encroachments by dismantling hundreds of illegal structures, including CNG stations, markets and shops, built on state property, mostly on roadsides.

However, with his transfer, the encroachers again grabbed the state property, worth millions of rupees.

Deputy Commissioner Imran Hamid Sheikh said they had also carried out a number of operations against encroachments and removed markets and shops.