Maira is a remote village located about 35km from the Chakwal city. The road leading to the village is in tatters for the last many years.

The residents of Maira and neighbouring Thirchak village have to bear a jumpy and hazardous ride on a daily basis.

“The road has not been repaired after its construction years ago,” says Mohammad Aslam, a villager. “Instead of becoming a facility this road has turned out to be a continued affliction for us.”

Except a few, roads to other villages are also in the same pathetic condition as they were never repaired after their construction decades ago.

Even the Chakwal-Mianwali Road, Chakwal-Sargodha Road and Chakwal-Pind Dadan Khan Road have completed their life years ago and need reconstruction.

“Chakwal-Mianwali Road, which passes through Talagang, has become a death trap for commuters as due to the Balkassar Interchange this road attracts surplus traffic,” says an official of the Punjab Highway Department.

During his election campaign in May 2013, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif promised in Talagang that he would build a motorway from Balkassar Interchange to Dera Ismail Khan.

But even when his party’s government is on its last legs, nothing has been done to materialise the promise.

“Accidents have become common on this road as heavy buses from Rawalpindi to Karachi ply on it,” says Chaudhry Ghulam Rabani, a journalist in Talagang.

A one-km patch of Chakwal-Mianwali Road near Odherwal Chowk shows the negligence of the departments concerned.

This patch of road is repaired annually but only to get tattered after a couple of weeks.

Due to the transportation of cement and coals for the cement plants and coalmines, the major roads of the district are being destroyed.

According to data obtained by Dawn from the highway department, the province has a road network of 75,000 km while there are 3,000 km roads in the Chakwal district.

According to the set rules, road repair must be carried out annually.

The local highway department does not know how many roads need repair as no survey has ever been carried out to assess the condition of the roads.

However, officials say almost 70pc of the roads in the district need special repair or reconstruction.

“According to the yardstick, Rs180,000 are needed for the repair of one km while currently Rs22 billion are needed to repair all the roads in the province. However, only Rs5 billion have been released for the province which is insufficient even for the roads of one division,” says an official.

“The government is not releasing funds for the repair of the existing road network rather the focus is on the construction of new roads,” he adds.

The devolution introduced by Pervez Musharraf in 2001 cost the rural roads heavily as besides the existing highway department another department named District Roads Department was created.

The rural roads were given under the control of the District Roads Department while provincial roads remained in the control of Provincial Highways Division.

“The district governments during Musharraf era could not repair or reconstruct the rural roads due to which they got almost destroyed,” says a senior official of the highway department.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif launched a mega project for building new carpeted roads in the rural areas apparently to facilitate farmers to take their grain to markets.

Billions of rupees have been spent under the project but these roads are being built on the wishes of politicians. Now under the “Khadim-i-Punjab Rural Roads Programme”, more than Rs67 billion have been spent and around 7,000 km-long carpeted roads constructed in rural areas.

In the current financial year, Rs17 billion have been set aside for the construction of rural roads in different parts of the province.

“Under this project, carpeted roads are being built which are too costly. These new roads are being built on the recommendation of concerned MPs. No proper feasibility report is carried out as the concerned department is not taken on board,” says an official. A village from where an MPA or MNA could not win will remain deprived of a carpeted road.

The official said the tender for the special repair of Odherwal Chowk patch was issued on May 10 this year but due to the shortage of funds the tender was cancelled as the department could not get the Rs6 million required for the special repair.

The fund-starved highway department was left with no other option but to opt for the annual repair which is technically not feasible.

“We are doing annual repair (AR) but the road would be in the same rundown position after some weeks because AR is not the solution,” he admits.

When contacted, Executive Engineer Punjab Highway Department in Chakwal Naveed Ahmed Bhatti said overloading was the major factor for the poor condition of the roads.

“According to the universal law, eight tons can be loaded on per axle which means a four-wheeler truck or trailer. But here a 10-wheeler trailer, which is authorised to carry 22 tons of load, carries 70 tons.

“The maximum life of a road 10 years but due to such heavy loads the life of a road is reduced to one to three years,” he explains.

Mr Bhatti said axle load measurement was necessary but unfortunately so far very little attention had been paid towards this issue. “Now the Punjab government is going to set up weight stations in 12 districts, including Chakwal which has cement industries and coalmines,”

He said fine for overloading was too less to deter the drivers.

A driver happily pays the fine of Rs500 and does not unload the extra load. At weight stations, stores to preserve such extra loads would also be set up.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2017