City roads need widening to avoid the chaos

RAWALPINDI : Raja Bazaar and Liaquat roads are crammed with parked vehicles and car accessory shops and trucks heading to markets, the roads need widening to escape the chaos, say some. Others blame it on the parking mafia.
“The entire area has been turned into one big parking lot. Numerous car accessory shops use the space for their business. Obviously, this does get in the way of traffic that enters from various areas,” complain residents of the localities that surround Liaquat Road.
“This is a market area. Most vehicles that enter surrounding bazaars or Raja Bazaar have to use this route to reach there. Although heavy vehicles are restricted, it is not unusual to see them at any time,” says Ulya Batool, a businessperson.
Residents say that a parking mafia is a troublemaker here. Although there are no-parking boards, cars are lined up on both sides of the road. “Double-parking, even triple-parking is common,” complains Ghazi Reza, an employee at a grocery store here.
Raja Bazaar Road does not have much going for it. Sandwiched between the many residential localities it remains clogged most hours of the day. “The traffic police’s apathy has aggravated the problem. This has affected the contractors who manage the multi-level parking lot here,” a resident says. However, some believe that widening the road will benefit everyone using the stretch.
“I don’t think that widening will help as the nature of businesses done here and the manner in which they are done are hindering traffic movement. Merely increasing the width of the road won’t make much of a difference as that will again be used for illegal parking,” says Saleem Haider, a resident.
Safdar Abbas, a tenant who deals in old tyres points out that widening was planned a long time ago. “They’ve covered the drain and done it on the left side. Widening on the right side has been pending. I have been hearing it will be done, for years now,” he says.
“If the concerned department goes ahead with the plan, it will have to compensate those losing property,” says Baqir Ali. “All governments have been giving compensation in exchange for land. That is the norm. There is no other way,” confirms Asad Hussain, a local man.
Qasim Hasan insists that it is already a broad stretch but has been reduced to a polluted and crammed one by the many businesses that abuse it. “Any work on this street should be complemented by efforts to make it more pedestrian-and traffic-friendly,” he adds.
Syed Wajahat continues to live here despite the fact that commercialization has eaten up comforts. He demands cleaner roads and regular garbage collection. -Agencies