The dug-up Murree-Kohala Road is a test case for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s newly-elected MNA and MPA, as the residents of four major union councils have been suffering a lot because of delay in completion of the project.

The dilapidated and jumpy road, which was last re-carpeted in 80s, remained neglected by previous government during its first four year, however, during its last year in power, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, got the rehabilitation and improvement work started.

But after digging up 23-km portion of the road, the work was halted, taxing the patience of the locals of the areas, as the dug-up road, according to locals, is a source of dust-related diseases.

The Rawalpindi-Muree Kashmir Highway connects Rawalpindi, Islamabad with Murree and AJK and it also caters to heavy traffic.

Not only residents of Muree and Hazara are suffering because of the excavated road, but thousands of people of AJK, who daily commute on this road also face a lot of hardship.

Majority of AJK residents, nowadays, uses bypass road of upper Dewal-Bhurban side where traffic jams is a routine because of load of traffic.

Mohammad Akbar, a resident of Dehla village of Union Council Phagwari said that the road was highly important and thousands of people depended on this road.

But he said that instead of carpeting and rehabilitating the road in patches, the former government, apparently to ‘attract’ voters, dug up the entire road 23-km road from Lower Topa to Julyal, the boundary of Punjab.

However, he said, that the halt of work a few months before the elections, and dust related diseases and issues, the people of four Union Councils opposed the previous government and in reaction they voted against the former prime minister that resulted in his defeat.

Union councils Sehr Bagla, Aliot, Phagwari and Dewal had remained the stronghold of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, from where he used to get thousands of votes lead, but in the last elections he could not get considerable number of votes that contributed to his defeat in NA-57.

According to a signboard erected at Lower Topa, the Punjab Highway scheme for improvement and rehabilitation of 23 kilometer road was launched in 2017 by the then prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and then provincial labour minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar.

The estimated cost of the project was Rs1.2 billion, with two years completion time.

In the four Union Councils, people gave votes to PTI candidate Sadaqat Abbasi and Latasab Satti, who made the issue of dug-up road as part of their elections campaign and their strategy paid off.

Bilal Abbasi, a resident of Aliot, said that this road is a test case for PTI MNA Sadaqat Abbasi and MPA Latasab Satti, as they promised before the elections that they would get this project completed on priority basis.

“PTI has a fair chance to restart this project, otherwise, in upcoming local government elections people will negatively react as they did in the case of former prime minster and provincial labour minister,” he said and added that this road will again play a major role in the local government elections.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that his government will conduct local government elections in country soon, so before the local government elections, the government should start the work on the project and release sufficient funds for this road, otherwise I guess, the fate of PTI will not be different from that of PML-N, as former prime minister lost the seat just because of this project,” he said.

People demanded the government pay heeds towards this excavated road, as everyone – from school children to elderly people, from shopkeepers to motorists – is badly disturbed and affected.

They said that road should have not been dug up in one go. The previous government, as a cosmetic measure to grab votes, did great injustice to the locals of the areas.

It was also noticed that the recent rain had further damaged the muddy road in areas of Kasari, Nirgoli and Aliot where vehicles developing fault is a routine.

“Commuting on this road is highly difficult for bus drivers, passengers, vehicles and pedestrians. We have been facing this problem for the last over one year, we don’t know why this is happening, what is our crime,” said a cab driver Idrees Abbasi.

MNA Sadaqat Abbasi could not be approached for his comment. However, PTI local leadership said that their leaders were aware of the problem and the road would be rehabilitated on priority basis.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2018