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Traffic jams in
Chitral bazaar becomes serious
Chitral --Traffic jams in Chitral bazaar has made life
miserable for commuters, some even reportedly missing flights
because of the holdups. Pedestrians and vehicles are in
competition to get place on the road and vehicles hitting
passengers in the bargain are a daily matter. Authorities are not only oblivious to
the agony of the commuters but rather seem enjoying their
plight.
 The 15 ft wide Chitral bazaar road built in the 1950s, when there
were only three vehicles in the whole of Chitral, is shrieking
under the load of scores of vehicles trying to move through the
bazaar at a time. A bazaar bypass road duly designed in 1995 and
inaugurated by the then chief minister still awaits to be
actualized,
Now that money to the tune of 200 million rupees has been
allocated for the purpose the reason for non commencement of
work is un understandable.
When our correspondent asked the DCO about reasons for delay in
commencement of the work, he said, there was no hitch in it and
all formalities have been completed in this regard and only the
visit of Chief Minister is awaited who would inaugurate the
project. Insiders in the concerned departments however confided
with Chitral News on conditions of anonymity that
seriousness does not exist in actually starting the work and the
project is being delayed for mysterious reasons, much to the
suffering of the people of Chitral town. .--(CN
report, 12 Oct 10)
Comment 1
It is a pity that VIPism is
again taking the toll on public interest. As I gather from the
news report and see for myself, the traffic situation in the Chitral Bazaar is
critical . In such a case why should the construction of a
bypass road be delayed just because the Chief Minister is to
visit at his convenience and inaugurate it.
If inauguration were that important then the same road
inaugurated by the Chief Minister of 1995 should have long been
completed by now. but it was shelved even before the ink on the
inauguration plaque dried. On the other hand we have the example
of the Chowni bridge built by the Japanese. No inaugurations
took place. No VIP delivered speech. No 'Dast e Mubarik' cut any
ribbon The Japanese quietly came built the bridge and went away
in a record one year time and people started using the bridge
without even seeing the face of who built it.
When will we become civilised and follow the people who are
living like sensible human beings? When will we get rid of the
curse of VIPism and the culture of politicising every thing to
its detrimence? --Muhammad Asif, Chitral,
13 Oct 10
Comment 2
This is with the reference to the under discussion topic “
traffic jams in Chitral bazaar becomes Serious”. I am totally
agreed with MR. Muhammad Asif and appreciate his very matched
comparison between the construction of Chownee Bridge by
Japanese and the By- pass Road. Building on this I will click in
with my views that the so called “ VIPism” is a national issue.
It’s very unfortunate to say that if not all but many of the
problems faced by poor people are due to this very issue. Our
leaders wants their names to be associated with development
projects. I think this is what we do not understand (specially
our leaders), we do not believe in taking responsibility and
work that ultimately gives a good impression among the public,
instead we look for such opportunities to show our spark our
profiles.
Concerned authority should ensure the start of construction of
By-Pass Road without any further delay. Because, who knows what
will happen the next day? specially with this Government setup.
Things can change dramatically in Pakistan (as it is part of our
history) and we do fear when we think of that. Because in
Pakistan with the change in Government their development
projects are cancelled and we have to see the process start form
the very scratch.
Incase if it is mandatory for the CM to inaugurate the start of
work, from the platform of CN we humbly request the Honorable CM
to vist Chitral as soon as possible for the inaugural of this
project.--Asghar Ali, Islamabad, 14 Oct
10.
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