Poor planning, encroachments taking toll on Abbottabad city

ABBOTTABAD: The once the beautiful city of Abbottabad is now facing serious drainage and sanitation problems, particularly in the rainy season due to poor urban planning, encroachments and unrestrained influx of migration.

During the rainy season, all the main roads of the town, including main Mansehra Road remains flooded with rainwater, causing traffic jams which add to the woes of common citizens, particularly the pedestrians. Now the city roads are not different from the roads in the other big cities like Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Lahore because of their improper condition. According to the old maps of Abbottabad dating back to the British-era available with cantonment board , the city had three main drainage lines which included Jab Canal, Mirpur-Jab Canal and the Main City-Jab Canal. Most of the Jab Canals have been encroached and the width has been reduced. Similarly, the jab in the city has also been encroached with the alleged connivance of the Cantonment Board and Municipal Committee (now Tehsil Municipal Administration). Shops and plazas have been constructed over them. The small drains at both sides of the expended Mansehra Road have no capacity to carry rainwater which causes blockade of the road during rainy season.

The only Small Industrial Estate of the city gives the look of a swimming pool during downpour as Jab Nullah spread over entire industrial estate due to poor planning. The town has been congested with haphazardly expended with unplanned construction on Shimla and Sarban hills beside expansion of Cantonment Board to rural area of Mirpur and Kakul. With its natural flow, the town due to its natural oval shape used to be drained within no time of heavy downpours, which was the beauty of this small cantonment. These drainage canals used to have fresh and clean water flowing most of the time, which have been polluted now by the sewerage lines of the local population.

The local elders still remember those golden times when their little town would remain clean and tidy just like a small valley surrounded from all sides with lush green hillocks and with foliage abound. They have witnessed golden fish in these canals which now have been converted into polluted drains.

Gone are the golden days and now the city roads, natural drains and all streets have been heavily encroached by the unplanned townships and constructions owing mainly to the unrestricted property businesses and the land mafia that seems hell-bent upon ruining whatever little splendor this town is left with. As a result, the drains are chocked, some parts of the city waterlogged and pollution levels are increasing. Another reason for the flooding of the roads is the absence of the disposal system of the solid waste. The residents and the shopkeepers throw the solid waste into the main drainage lines. The monsoon season always plays havoc as the rainwater inundate houses in the settlements of Link Road, Sir Syed Colony, Niazi Colony and Kakul Road.

The residents complained many a times to the local administration but to no avail. This is high time the district government and the cantonment board address the problems confronting the local population.