Closure of road: HIA threatens to take to streets

Locals hail district admin’s decision of closing artery for heavy vehicles

HARIPUR:

Industrialists of Hattar have announced to take to the streets in protest against the closure of Khanpur Taxila road for heavy traffic during the day timing.

After an emergency meeting of Hattar Industrialists Association (HIA) Haripur under the chair of Malik Ashiq Awan, the industrialists unanimously agreed to take to the streets in protest against the closure of the Khanpur-Taxila main road.

They said that currently there were around 400 industrial establishments in Hattar Industrial Estate where not only thousands of people were employed but also billions of rupees of revenues were collected from them annually.

They said that the industry in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) was suffering from severe difficulties and many units had already been closed and the government was losing billions of rupees in taxes. They said that the closure of the industry was rendering thousands of people jobless.

They said that in such a difficult situation, the assistant commissioner of Taxila has issued an order to close down the main road from 5 am to 10 pm, which is completely unfair. The industrialists said that due to the closure of the road, it was increasingly becoming difficult to deliver manufactured goods from factories to various parts of K-P, Taxila, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Punjab, which was causing further losses to the industries.

They said that if one of the two roads was not opened, Hattar industrial owners and thousands of factory workers will stage a strong protest against the road closure in Khanpur and Taxila.

A well-known manufacturer of Hattar Tayyab Khan Swati said that the assistant commissioner issued the notification two days ago to stop heavy traffic, due to which hundreds of vehicles had to move out of Taxila city.

He said that owners and drivers of heavy vehicles were also facing difficulties. “There is also a risk of theft and looting from vehicles.”

He said that this action on the part of the assistant commissioner was equivalent to the economic killing of workers. “When the raw material does not reach the factories on time, how will the labourer work and how will the production be prepared and supplied on time? Several such problems are emerging which can have disastrous consequences.

The industry is already suffering from an economic crisis. The industrialists are burdened by heavy taxes. With complete opposition to this move, we will decide the future course of action soon,” he said.

HIA President Malik Ashiq Awan said that such an order was issued last year as well but it was suspended after their strong protest

He said that the biggest plants of the country and many other big factories were located in Hattar and if the production could not be ready on time, the products will disappear from the market across Pakistan. He asked the prime minister and Punjab chief secretary to take notice of the issue.

Meanwhile, according to the Taxila district administration, the notification has been issued to prevent problems arising from heavy traffic.

“The time allowed for heavy traffic is from 10 pm to 6 am. Heavy traffic timings have been fixed in consultation with others,” the administration said adding that citizens, patients and shopkeepers were also facing difficulties due to traffic jams jam for hours.

The administration said that several complaints were being received from the citizens of Taxila regarding the problems caused by heavy traffic. Keeping in view the public interest, the entry of heavy traffic has been prohibited during working hours, the administration said.

Taxila's well-known social worker Syed Hyder Ali Shah said that the people of Taxila appreciate the Taxila administration for the move and a long-standing demand of the people has been fulfilled.

He said that people had been suffering from various diseases due to the acrid dust and pollution caused by heavy vehicles. He said that work on the alternate road has resumed and the heavy vehicles will have a separate road.

Provincial Assembly candidate of Jamaat-e-Islami Taxila Atiqur Rehman Kashmiri also led a delegation and held a meeting with the Taxila assistant commissioner.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2023.