Metro project: Three injured as girder falls on parked cars

Closure of a section of Murree Road causes trouble for all and sundry.

RAWALPINDI: Three persons were injured when a girder fell on couple of cars at Liaquat Bagh Road during the ongoing work on metro bus project.

Motorbike rider, Gul Faraz, 36 and a 22 years old passerby Shahbaz, who hails from Toba Tek Singh, were injured. Another driver sitting in a car was also injured. Faraz and Shahbaz, were admitted to a hospital due to fractures on their arms and legs. Rawalpindi Commissioner Captain (retired) Zahid Saeed told Daily Express that the girder was placed on a footpath that caved in, resulting in the girder falling on two cars parked nearby. The commissioner assured that the injured and the owners of the vehicles would be compensated.

Meanwhile, the closure of a section of Benazir Bhutto or formely Murree Road for carpeting has caused immense trouble for residents, commuters and motorists, prompting traders to set up a protest camp to press Merto Bus Project contractors to complete work on the project at the earliest.

A portion of the road from Shamsabad to Faizabad has been closed for carpeting since Friday, forcing traders to close their businesses along the road besides creating nuisance for all and sundry living in the vicinity. The traders said that they have already suffered immense financial losses since the launch of the project. They could not afford further losses, they said.

“What kind of tax-waiver the government is talking about? Businesses along Murree Road have destroyed since the project was launched,” said Raja Atif Saeed, a local trader who deals in carpet business. He demanded that the government should announce a tax-waiver for at least one year and implement the agreement signed with them.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2015.