Hazardous transport: Crossing Haro River on risky cable cars

ABBOTABAD: Frail iron cables used in lift systems at various parts of Galyat in Abbottabad to carry people across river Haro pose serious threat to the lives of passengers. The iron cables, bought from scrap, have exceeded their useful life and may snap any time under pressure of the load.

According to technical experts the second hand iron cables and other parts of the machinery have completed their service life and the continued use of the lifts is extremely hazardous and unsafe. The lifts need to be overhauled with immediate replacement of expired parts to avoid the possibility of an accident.

Mohammad Musharraf, a civil aviation authority engineer said that the cables from which the passenger cabin hangs need proper inspection and certification by the concerned government agency before installation.

The owners of these lifts were playing with the lives of village people who were unaware of the risk they were taking. The police personnel at Lora station are also negligent about this danger in spite of serious accidents in the past. Serious accidents due to faulty lifts at Butti Maidan (Lora) and Nagri Totial were hushed up when local police negotiated “patch up” between the victim families and the owners of the lifts.

According to reports “the iron cables on which the lift runs had been purchased from a scrap dealer and the lift was installed without inspection or approval by qualified engineers. Moreover the lift operators were not qualified and could not detect a fault in the machinery. All they knew was how to start or stop the lift by pushing a button. The safety of the users was not their concern.

A survey revealed that there were seven such locally made lifts being operated in the vicinity of PS Lora that take passengers from Lora to Gurri and Rahi, Nagri Totial to Taroor, Machana to Palasi, Butti to Noor Pur  and Dunna to Gorreeni. The owners of these lifts charge Rs10 per passenger per trip across the river Haro.

“It is a blessing for us.  Before the lifts were installed we we could not go across the river to go to different villages but the lifts have greatly facilitated this journey saving villagers from lot of hardship and time”, says Adeel Abbasi of Rahi village.

“We know there is a serious risk but being Muslims we believe we cannot die before our appointed time,” said another villager Sardar Abdul Ghafoor of Sairee when his attention was drawn to the dangerous condition of the cables. “Previously we covered the distance in four

hours but now it takes ten seconds and ten rupees”, he said.

Whatever the simple folk may believe, it is the duty of the concerned authorities to ensure the safety of the public. The lifts need to be inspected regularly and any repairs needed should be done without delay as the lifts indeed serve useful purpose and are a great convenience for the public.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2010.