SWABI: Heavy vehicles taking construction material for the under-construction fourth extension project of the Tarbela Dam have badly damaged roads in the district, but the local lawmakers have failed to take notice of the worsening condition of roads.

Talking to Dawn on Sunday, Fazal Anwar, president of Swabi truck owners association, urged the communication and works department to carry out a survey to assess the damages caused to roads by the heavy vehicles of the dam’s extension project.

The Tarbela Dam project is to be completed by 2017 at a cost of US $928 million. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in February, last year.

Mr Anwar said that as work on the project would continue for next three years, heavy vehicles would cause more damage to the roads.

He demanded allocation of funds for reconstruction and repair of the damaged roads, as their dilapidated condition had created immense problems for transporters.

He said that their vehicles had been damaged by the bad condition of roads, causing huge expenses on their frequent repairs. Mr Anwar asked the local parliamentarians to take the matter with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority and National Highway Authority.

He said that the transporters planned to meet Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar to take up the matter with him.

He said that the roads in the district were not designed to bear such a heavy load, adding that construction material was taken to the dam’s extension project through Zaida-Topi and Swabi-Topi roads.

The leader of the truckers’ association said that the Topi-Tarbela road and roads inside the Tarbela Dam built recently had also been damaged by heavy vehicles.

“Ditches have emerged near the rickshaw stand, making it difficult for motorists to pass through, especially during rain.”

DEATH ANNIVERSARY: A function was held here on Sunday in connection with the death anniversaries of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Khan Abdul Wali Khan. Speaking on the occasion, ANP leaders said that the none-violence philosophy of the Red-Shirt leaders was the only panacea for the ills the country was suffering.

ANP parliamentary leader in the provincial assembly Sardar Hussain Babak, former provincial forest minister Awwal Sher Khan and other former lawmakers graced the gathering, held at the hujra of Gul Zamin Shah.

Mr Babak said that those who criticised the ANP for opposing the Afghan war had now recognised that Pakistan’s siding with the US against the then USSR was a grave mistake, for which the country was paying a heavy prices till date.

He recalled that when Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan declared that Pakistan’s involvement in Afghan war would have far-reaching consequences for the country, he was criticised and labeled as working against the country’s interests.

Mr Babak criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government for failing to come up to the expectations of people and fulfilling the pledges made before coming into power.

He said that it was good that the people had come to know about the real face of the PTI.

On the occasion, Awwal Sher Khan said that the Red-Shirt lovers had started rejuvenating ANP in the district, adding that many came and gone but the real ANP workers remained with the party through thick and thin and worked for the rights of Pakhtuns.

Published in Dawn January 26th , 2015

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