Cut-off: Villagers protest against bridge design on Hazara Motorway

Say bridge is too low for vehicles to access the village

HARIPUR: Residents of Mohari village staged a protest on Thursday against the design of a bridge being constructed on the Hazara motorway.

Protestors led by Haji Fazalur Rehman and Qari Sohail held a demonstration near the construction site of the bridge over River Daur near Mohari village. As a result of the protest, construction work on the bridge had to be suspended on Thursday.

According to locals, the height of the under construction bridge was too low. As a result, large vehicles will not be able to cross the underpass to reach Mohari which has a population of at least 5,000 people.

The protesters accused area politicians of depriving them of another bridge on River Daur. The provincial government had initially planned to construct the bridge in a bid to connect Mohari village to GT Road. However, protesters claimed that the site of the bridge was relocated to facilitate the people of Changi Bandi.

They claimed that the only road access to Mohari village was via the underpass on Hazara motorway. However, they feared that large trucks will not be able to cross owing to the low height of the bridge.

Locals said they had requested the contractor and motorway authorities several times to take notice of the matter. However, the requests were repeatedly ignored.

With protesters refusing to budge and delaying work, the contractor and officials of motorway held a meeting with their representatives.

In the meeting, officials assured the locals that their complaints will be resolved.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2016.