No respite in sight for commuters on Islamabad Highway

Islamabad: Despite pointing out several times the problems being faced by commuters travelling on the Islamabad Highway at the ‘Korang Nullah bottleneck’, no visible effort has been made to mitigate their sufferings.

It was a highly appreciable step taken by the Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad, Mr Hamza Shafqaat, when after listening to the grievance in his office, he immediately issued orders, restricting movement of heavy traffic from 7 am to 9 am and then 5 pm to 7 pm on the Islamabad Highway.

The orders were effectively implemented by the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP), but unfortunately for the morning only while the movement of heavy vehicles continued in violation of the orders of the Deputy Commissioner during the afternoon/evening hours of 5 pm to 7 pm.

The Islamabad Highway was to be turned into a 5-lane signal free road from ‘Korang Nullah bridge’ right up to T-Chowk on the GT Road by December 2018 but it couldn’t be because of various reasons.

There have always been many a rumor afloat as to why this project could not be completed but the fact is that it simply was not done. As a result the commuters are suffering and suffering bad because the traffic remains clogged on this ‘Korang Nullah bridge’, only because the truckers are not ready to follow any law, rule or regulation.

Even the presence of a few ITP officials right on the spot doesn’t deter these truckers who flagrantly violate the ‘lane violation’ and never hesitate to overtake each other on this narrow bridge, effectively blocking even a motorcyclist to cross.

The fact that the existing two-lane-a-side road beyond Korang Nullah bridge right up to the T-Chowk on the GT Road is not repaired for quite a few years is in fact a blessing in disguise for the motorists!

Deep rutting and bumpy patches are the only things which put fear of God in hearts of these truckers because the axils of these heavily overloaded trucks cannot sustain any sharp jerk. But then again, such incidents do occur every now and then anywhere on this length of the Islamabad Highway and the result is always a prolonged traffic blockade!

Okay! That is absolutely fine. We understand all this. But there are some little measures, which if put in place, could ease the life of motorists to a large extent. If only the ITP may implement the orders already issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad to stop all heavy traffic not only in the morning but for evening hours of 5 pm to 7 pm, it would give a breather to the motorists.

If only the ITP may take a big risk and become absolutely strict about lane violation and prevent overtaking by the truckers on this length of the Islamabad Highway the motorists’ miseries will be reduced to a substantial level.

There was a buzz in the air recently that the government is seriously considering increasing the fines for traffic rules and laws violations substantially to make those as an effective preventive against law breaking.

We wonder what happened to that proposal but there is a gut feeling that the trucker mafia lobbyists would throw in everything in way of the government from approving any such initiative.

Or maybe if the Islamabad Deputy Commissioner may rent, if not buy, a house in any other housing scheme of his choice on that side of Korang Nullah and had to commute daily to reach office and return home, he might think of some even better solution to this problem. Being such a good administrator his vision must be much wider and better then the myopic view of the issue we have!