The carelessness of the administrations of Pakistan Railways (PR) and Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) is causing severe hardships to millions of citizens of the garrison city as the repair work on the 118-year-old railway bridge that collapsed near Transit Camp Chowk remains stalled even after passing of two months.
Locals have announced staging a protest against the two public departments for their lethargic attitude towards the redressal of the issue of grave public importance.
Millions of people including public transport, ambulances, and school pick and drop vans use this bridge to enter the cantonment area from the city.
Sources said an embankment of the bridge was badly affected due to the passing of heavy traffic near Transit Camp Chowk in August following which the PR administration closed the bridge for all types of traffic until repair.
The PR administration had earlier announced that the work to repair the bridge would be completed in two weeks.
However, later the restoration of the bridge for traffic was postponed till the construction of the road. The PR administration was of the view that the RCB administration's indifferent attitude is the main reason why the bridge is closed to traffic.
The highway passing through the railway overhead bridge is not owned by the railway administration but by the RCB.
Several letters have been sent to the RCB for repairing the highway passing through the overhead bridge but the RCB administration is constantly using delay tactics.
On the other hand, the locals have decided to hold a protest.
Yasin Khan, a resident of Dhok Rata, said that the Punjab government has made several announcements to make Rawalpindi a modern city. However, the ground realities are the exact opposite of such announcements.
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“Several intuitions cannot repair an overhead bridge. The residents of the area have started selling their properties in the area and have decided to migrate. Citizens' businesses have been destroyed. The businessmen, students, men, women and children are very worried about the closure of this bridge,” he said and added that if there was an emergency in the area, the rescue vehicles had to cover a long distance to reach the hospitals.
Considering the indifference of the two public institutions, the local people have decided to launch a protest movement against the administrations of PR and the RCB.
“In the first phase of the protest movement, demonstrations will be held on both sides of the bridge and later, hunger strike camps will be set up until the repairs are made,” he said.
Another citizen, Muhammad Yaqoob, said that the citizens are facing severe problems due to the closure of the bridge.
“The railway administration is aware of the importance of this bridge, but still the repairs of the bridge are not being completed which is proof of the incompetence of the institutions,” he said.
The PR administration had completely closed the bridge to traffic.
However, motorcyclists have removed the concrete barriers to make way and thousands of motorcyclists cross the dangerous bridge every day.
The citizens demanded immediate repair of the bridge to make life easier for them. The RCB administration said that they are facing a shortage of funds.
“We are demanding funds from the Punjab government to repair the road and as soon as any funds are available, the road passing through the bridge will be repaired,” the administration said.
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