SIALKOT - The construction work of 20km long Daska-Sambrial Road has been lying suspended for the last one year. It is to be noted that the construction of the road, which also leads to Sialkot International Airport, had been started five years ago, and it is yet to be completed.
The road connects hundreds of the villages between Daska and Sambrial tehsils, providing better means of communication to the local people. Local transporters said that the road was not usable now due to its very miserable and dilapidated condition, adding that the road was full of several feet deep ditches that created great difficulties for the people travelling to Sialkot International Airport and other areas of Gujranwala region.
They said that the PTI government had allegedly stopped the construction of the road more than a year ago after smelling corruption in the project. “Since then, the road had been lying in a very deplorable condition. The suspension of the construction is also creating several problems for the local people,” they complained. They said that the heaps of the crushed stone and soil, kept along both sides of the road, were resulting in traffic jams. “No one has ever bothered to take interest in early completion of the project,” they lamented. They urged the Punjab government to ensure early resumption of the road construction, saying that the growers in both Daska and Sambrial tehsils also suffered from great difficulties in transporting their yields to the local markets due to shabby condition of the road.
Locals including Rasheed, Khalid Mehmood, Nasir Mehmood, Ghulam Hussain, Abdul Majeed, Ansar Mehmood Butt, Ishrat Hussain and Shehbaz Ali said that the heads of the district and divisional administration often passed through the road to reach Sialkot International Airport, but they turned their eyes blind after seeing the miserable condition of the road. They said that people, coming from abroad, expressed wonder seeing the dilapidated road. They also expressed grave concerns over the alleged slackness of officials concerned of Highways Department and the district administration.
When contacted, the concerned officials of highways department, averted to give any comment, in this matter.
When contacted, the officials of Sialkot district administration said that a “go-ahead” was still awaited by the Punjab government to resume the suspended construction of the road.
Meanwhile, local social, business and political circles expressed grave concerns over the critical situation. They urged Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, Commissioner Gujranwala Division Waqas Ali Mehmood and Sialkot Deputy Commissioner Dr Syed Bilal Haider to look into the matter in larger interest of locals.