Civic issues littered throughout Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi:With rising population and modern lifestyle many big challenges like potholed roads, air, and noise pollution, wild growth along avenues, traffic congestion, water shortage, electricity, gas depletion, heaps of garbage, choked sewerage lines, encroachments, etc. face the city.

These issues affect not only an individual but affect society as a whole. It disturbs public life altogether. The city may become livable if the city administration efficiently manages these problems.

The drainage system has completely collapsed and water accumulates in many city areas, damaging houses, and infrastructure. Poor urban planning without any consideration for drainage, and the lack of solid waste removal that accumulates has choked the drainage system in the city.

The collection and disposal of a huge quantity of waste are not possible for the civic agencies, which already have a poor capacity. Consequently, the residents dump waste on roads and streets, which not only pollutes the environment but also becomes a major source of choking the already feeble drainage system.

During heavy rains, the situation gets awful on the ground as most parts of the city face standing water. The immediate health hazard from this scenario is the spread of the dengue virus and other diseases throughout the city.

City authorities claim working on several projects worth crores of rupees; the civic condition of the city shows a sorry state of affairs. Civic bodies’ people should visit areas like Raja Bazaar, Bara Market, Mochi Bazaar, Bohar Bazaar, Sutar Bazaar, Trunk Bazaar, Moti Bazaar, Sarafa Bazaar, and Kashmiri Bazaar, and take action accordingly.

A visit to Namakmandi, Ganjmandi, Banni Chowk, Usmanpura, Committee Chowk underpass, Mareer Chowk, Saddar, Pirwadhai Morr Underpass, Gali Loharan, Purana Qila, will also prove informative for them.

Stay at Iqbal Road, College Road, Kashmir Road, IJ Road, Rashid Minhas Road, GT Road near Ayub Park, Adyala Road, Gowalmandi Road, Sir Syed Road, and Jamia Masjid Road is pretty revealing.

Syed Kamal, president of the City Markets Association, says, “Cleanliness and maintenance are big issues here. Though in the market areas, we keep things intact customers do not pay attention to sanitation.”

“I have been working in various city areas for the past 27 years, but have not seen these areas in such a pathetic state. Maintenance is a big issue in the areas,” laments Manzar Zaidi, a commodities’ supplier, preferring anonymity.

Haider Abbas, also a supplier of items for consumption, says, “I have been visiting these localities since my school days, but have not seen these areas in such a bad condition before. Interestingly, in some areas, the offices of RMC, RDA, WASA, RWMC, and PHA are nearby.

Rawalpindi is facing multiple problems in ensuring sustainable urban planning and management. It seems that urban planning institutions and professionals are neither involved nor made responsible for the city design and planning.