Concern expressed over rising accidents on Swat Expressway

BATKHELA: The leaders of the political parties in Malakand district on Tuesday expressed concern over the rising accidents on the Swat Expressway and said it was opened to traffic even though it was still incomplete.

Addressing a press conference at the Batkhela Press Club, Jamaat-e-Islami district president Khursheed Rabbani, Awami National Party president Ejaz Ali Khan, Pakistan People’s Party tehsil president Mehboobur Rehman, Amir Bacha of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party president Hakeem Shah, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz city president Ali Muhammad, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl former president Roohul Amin and Traders Union president Haji Shakirullah Khan said that the government had opened the Swat Expressway before its completion to get a credit but it had turned a blind eye to the rising road accidents on the expressway.

“It’s really surprising to see that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan travels on the expressway but does not notice the absence of roadside grills and cat-eyes or deliberately ignores such requirements on the road,” Ejaz Ali Khan said. They said that many people have lost lives during accidents on the expressway during the last six months.

They said that the safety grills on the roadside, barbed wire, cat-eyes and cameras had not been installed yet nor police patrolling had been launched on the expressway, adding, the accidents had become a routine matter. They said that they would register the first information report (FIR) against the construction company on behalf of those who had lost their lives in the accidents.

“The government should compensate the families of the victims of two accidents which occurred on Sunday near Palai in which seven persons including two women were killed and 40 were wounded,” Amir Bacha said. “The government should immediately close the traffic on the expressway till its completion as it has become a death-well,” Mehboobur Rehman said.

Those at the press conference said that a hospital should be constructed near tube-tunnel at Palai where most of the accidents were taking place, adding, the District Headquarters Hospital Batkhela be upgraded to category-C hospital.