View of encroachment on drain, Sunday Bazaar ground and a road in UC 42. PHOTO: EXPRESS
Lying within Union Council 42 of Rawalpindi, this area has been plagued with illegal encroachment, rapidly deteriorating sewerage system and a host of social ills such as drug-smuggling and alcoholism along with rising trend of street crime.
Have no fear, the anti-street crime police are here
Envious dwellings
With Committee Chowk on one side and the Benazir Bhutto International Airport on the other, the area is serviced by four filtration plants with space reserved for planting two more.
The plants provide clean drinking water to Millat Colony, Dhok Ilahi Bakhsh, Thathi neighbourhood, Qasimabad, Roshandin neighbourhood, Umer Road, Committee area, Nadeem Colony, Arya neighbourhood, Sherpao colony.
Moreover, there are six educational institutions for students, including the high school Government Model College for Boys. A dispensary is staffed with doctors and staff along with clinics for gynaecology and paediatrics.
Apart from humans, there are health options for animals as well. While an educational institution was opened in the building of the historic horse hospital, a private clinic for the treatment of animals has recently opened up in the union council.
There is the Millat Colony public park. While there is no dedicated park for children, one has been proposed to be built on land controlled by the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA).
A Sunday market is also organized in the area.
Ageing infrastructure
The local government has embarked on a host of measures to improve the facilities on offer in the union council, including the installation of light emitting diode (LEDs) lights instead of sodium streetlights as a brighter and more efficient alternative.
But the issue has not been fully resolved thus far. The sewerage system in the UC is also in disrepair with some low-lying areas in the area inundated during the monsoon rains.
Crime challenge
UC 42 Chairman Sajjad Khan is well aware of the challenges he faces in the area and knows that some are out of his control.
Speaking to Daily Express, he demanded that the local police should cooperate with his administration to address the rising street crime and encroachment issue. He pointed out that people had illegally occupied and built houses on land allotted for the construction of graveyards.
Moreover, encroachment has also prevented them from servicing and expanding sewerage lines by an inch so that low-lying areas are not inundated during the monsoon season. “I demand the removal of encroachment,” he said.
Lady Councilor Mehwish Javed, though, said that they had somewhat mitigated the threat of floods in the locality by cleaning canals.
Minority Councilor Aftab Siraj said there was no further capacity for graves for members of minority communities in the Dhok Ilahi Baksh graveyard or the Jadeed graveyard.
More powers
In a statement, UC 42 Vice Chairman Nasir Iqbal, Lady Councilor Mehwish Javed, General Councilors Zafar Mehmood, Muhammad Akram, Raja Afshan and Siraj stressed that issues plaguing the public could only be solved if councillors were given powers.
“Councilors elected by the people currently do not have any powers,” they complained and lamented their inability to solve problems faced by the public.
Furthermore, they urged the authorities to rid the UC of social ills.
Rising street crimes: SHC issues notices to cellular companies
Javed alleged that the criminals and the police were in cahoots. So much so, that she believed that the police are in fact providing protection to criminals particularly those who create havoc after consuming alcohol and drugs. She further claimed that their complaints seem to fall on deaf ears.
Good for pocket, bad for the environment
While the weekly market affords residents an opportunity to buy their groceries at reasonable rates, they are concerned that it has been literally kicking up too much dust.
Several residents Daily Express spoke with, including Shahid Akhtar, Hayat Wali Khan, Waheed Khan, Kamran Islam, Raja Shaukat Hussain, and Khawar Hayat Butt suggested that a playground for children can be built behind the gynae and paeds filter clinics.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2018.
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