ISLAMABAD - Though the wider pavements greatly assist pedestrians, what to say if those responsible to maintain such facility ditch the pavement to drain some seasonal nullah beneath it and never bother to repair it again.
Definitely, such practice will point towards the gruesome state of affairs of those responsible. Such caves are at number of places in the federal capital even the busiest 7th Avenue has no exception where the civic agency’s workers after ‘clearing’ the main drain flowing beneath the footpath left it un-repaired.
The ditch on the footpath has not emerged because of the excessive use of this facility but owing to the careless attitude of the workers of the Sanitation Directorate of the Capital Development Authority.
These death traps not only speak volumes about the inefficiency and week performance of the city managers, but it also paints to a grim picture how much we care about the pedestrians’ rights.
The civic authority gets billions of rupees in its annual budget and consumes a hefty chunk of budgetary allocations to highlight its achievements ‘though hollow’ through extensive media campaigns, but regrettably never bother to plug the loopholes in the whole mechanism regarding ensuring quality of civic works. Of course, it is useless to mention here that the culture of kickbacks and commissions has made roots in especially public departments and the CDA is no exception.
One sees a chain of unresolved problems from mushroom growth of illegal kiosks, workshops in residential localities, regular use of residential units as commercial purposes, continued deforestation, environment degradation and persistent encroachments. All this is going on under the nose of the civic managers who are supposed to ensure give the city of look of a planned city and claim to have beautified the federal capital. While the ‘death trap’ seen in the picture is enough to tell the tale of the other side of the story.