Communication interrupted: Bari Imam residents urge CDA to repair roads

CDA Director claims that development work in rural areas was the responsibility of the ICT administration

ISLAMABAD: The residents of Bari Imam have decried the long dilapidated and bumpy roads leading towards the mausoleum. They have demanded that the relevant authorities immediately pay attention to and resolve the issue by re-carpeting the road.

A number of residents of Noor Pur Shahan, also known as Bari Imam, told the media on Sunday that they had lodged several complaints with the Capital Development Authority (CDA) over the poor state of the roads in the area and to repair it.

However, all their complaints and protestations seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

Adeeb Haider, a local resident, said that two routes lead to the Bari Imam locality. The first route leads from the Red Zone, which is restricted for public transport vehicles such as taxis. The second access route was from Murree Road.

"Both routes are in need of urgent repairs," Haider said.

Shafique, another resident of the area noted that even as the roads in the main sectors are repaired and re-carpeted, they were ignored.

"The roads of the entire capital are being carpeted and repaired but nobody owns this area for unknown reasons. I have contacted the relevant departments but they only come up with lame excuses," Shafique complained.

He went on to add that one of the reasons for the poor condition of the roads was that they had been dug up years ago to lay optic fibre cables but have yet to be repaired.

He added that the state of disrepair of the roads poses a threat to the lives and properties of the road users.

Khalid Ahmed, a daily commuter who alternatively uses both routes, urged the CDA to immediately start development work on repairing the road leading to the mausoleum since thousands of devotees from across the country visit the locality daily to pay homage to Shah Abdul Latif Kazmi — known as Bari Sarkar.

The residents also demanded an expansion of the existing roads apart from removing the illegal kiosks which encroach on the road and lead to traffic jams on the main artery passing through the area.

Different departments of the CDA, when approached, passed the buck on to each other, noting that this particular area of the federal capital did not fall under their jurisdiction.

CDA's Road and Marketing Director Fateh Maku admitted that they were responsible for the maintenance of roads in the urban areas and had patched the road in the past.

However, Maku said that development work in the rural areas had been transferred to the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration.

A representative of the ICT administration declined to comment on the issue when contacted.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2018.