State of the land: The grim realities of living in Rawalpindi

Water shortages, encroachments, broken roads among issues faced by residents.

RAWALPINDI:

Inundated streets, traffic jams, noise pollution and what can only be termed “administrative indifference”, these are only some of the problems that residents of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) localities face.

To live in Westridge, Allahabad, RA Bazar, Misryal Road, Chohr, Range Road, Qasim Market, Afshan Colony, Kohnoor, Tehmasabad, is to walk by broken roads, open manholes and broken water supply pipelines that haven’t had the good fortune of being included in RCB’s restoration programme.

Water shortages, price hikes including rising house rents, encroachments and the lack of recreational facilities have made life in these places increasingly impossible. Amid the city’s rapid expansion, civic spaces barely get the chance to develop.

The damage isn’t just restricted to these principal localities. Shopkeeper Nazir Ahmad who tends to his store in the Lalkurti area, narrates of his “born again” experience, considered a common occurrence in the area.

“I was walking down Lalkurti Road (among the busiest localities in the area) when I heard a thunderous crash behind me only to turn around and see part of an encroached building collapsing onto the street.”

When he later visited a friend and narrated the incident, his friend pointed out a building in total ruin, whose residents were evacuated after a flood hit the area some years ago. But the story doesn’t end here. There are families and businesses housed in dilapidated buildings located in areas managed by RCB and Chaklala Cantonment Board administrations.

A local trader, Safdar Ali, slipped into an uncovered manhole on Harley Street one January night while out on a post-dinner stroll. “I was on my way back home; I am glad I wasn’t seriously injuries,” he said while narrating the incident. Passersby helped him out.

Civic body workers tend to remove manhole covers to clean up drains but, as multinational firm employee Sabahat Hussain puts it, “never put the covers back”, which portends dangerous situations during power outages when the areas are plunged into darkness.

The Rs2.3 billion budget earmarked for the 2011-2012 fiscal year and the condition of Cantonment Board civic amenities presents an apparent conflict, not easily fixed when assessing the Rs1.3 billion spent on development projects under the Annual Development Plan, including Rs50 million for repairs and maintenance and Rs80 million for fixing streets and roads.

The question on every resident’s mind must be: where did the money go? Good question.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2012.