Salman Tanvir
ISLAMABAD
The masses are finding themselves in a fix as the city administration has halted almost every development projects in the city. Millions of rupees were spent on building, carpeting of various main roads across the city. The city administration awarded the contracts to person of their own choice and some cases even those companies were awarded the contract which have been blacklisted for using substandard material.
The service road running parallel to Murree Road had developed ditches and most of time is filled with stagnated water either leaking from the broken sewerage pipelines or heaps of garbage that lay unattended for weeks. The Saidpur Road, streets linking to 4th and 5th and Sixt Road, remained dilapidated for years. The MPs of the concerned constituency have been granted million of rupees in grant to rebuild these streets but with the connivance of locals UC nazims, those MPs have pocketed the hard-earned money of taxpayers.
The recent torrential rains have once again exposed the incapability of city administration. The rainwater washed away the ‘newly constructed’ road as claimed by the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA). Most of the roads were rebuilt but only papers as only those ditches were filled with cement and sand while some of the roads were carpeted by the concerned quarters who pocketed millions of rupees. The dilapidated roads caused many accidents in which most of people either lost their lives are badly hurt. The uncovered manholes are another dilemma citizens have to face with. These open manholes eventually have turned into death trapped especially in night time. Over dozens of people receives severe injuries by falling into these ‘death traps’. A young boy Khalid last Sunday lost his life while returning home. He could not see the manholes right at the corner of a popular bakery located at Chandni Chowk , Rawalpindi.
The shopping centers are fully encroached due to lethargic attitude on the part of concerned quarters. The encroachment department officials can easily be seen roaming around the Commercial Market accepting money from the owners of the several shops who have expanded their business. The encroachment staff only takes action against the poor who sell cheap items to make both ends meet while the big fish like, some of the refreshment shops are permitted to expand their business activities in the verandah meant for public and even on the roads with the connivance of the concerned quarters. The “Whit Truck” of RMC has become a major source of making money not only for their bosses but for their selves too. The RMC staff often roams around the commercial market and put the entire food stuff of those poor who can not afford to grease their palms.
The citizens have appealed DCO Rawalpindi to take notice of the situation and hold accountable to the corrupt practice that have deprived the masses of healthy environment.
