LAST year’s devastating floods had washed away many a bridge and dam in Balochistan, inflicting a heavy toll on the life and property of the masses. The collapsed bridges included many important ones, like Pinjra Bridge and the one on the Hub River which used to connect Sindh and Balochistan. These bridges were the only inter-provincial links that are not there in a state that may be remotely called functional.

The Pinjra Bridge on the Bolan River served as a crucial link between Balochistan’s Naseerabad division and Sindh, while the one on the Hub River connected the two provinces through Lasbela district. Since the process of rebuilding the bridges was lengthy, and the damage to the bridges was beyond repairs, makeshift roads were carved out using stones and sand across the two rivers. As could only be expected, the mud-based pathways could not stand the floods this year and were washed away rather quickly. The traffic, as such, stands disrupted.

It has been one year since the initial damage, but the pace and quality of work on the two critical sites have been nothing to write home about.

It is high time the authorities took immediate action to build proper bridges to prevent destructions during the monsoons.

Shehzad Ali
Usta Muhammad

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2023