SIALKOT
The Nullah Bhed Bridge in Sialkot Cantt area is the busiest one of the town as an estimated of 50,000 vehicles pass through it daily but it cracked one and a half months ago.
The bridge has been placed with a branchy stem nowadays so that the people may see and avoid accidents on their own. It is a wide bridge, and dim streetlights make it a pitfall at nights and bikers very often fall prey to the menace.
The road falls in the area of Cantonment Board Sialkot but it has turned a blind eye to the issue. A few days ago, a billboard was placed on the ditch by the Cantonment Board to warn the people against the damaged part of the bridge. Mushtaq Mughal, owner of patrol station situated near the bridge, said, “It makes no sense to me why Cantonment Board has left this 2 feet hole right in the middle of this bridge.”
When asked, Sialkot Cantonment Board officer Syed Ali Irfan Rizvi admitted that the road on both the sides of the bridge falls in the area of the board, saying that the repairing or construction of the bridge was the responsibility of district administration.
He added that it is the duty of Highway Department to either repair or reconstruct the bridge. According to sources, Cantonment Board Syed officer had been assured by Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif that a special grant will soon be released for the bridge but it has been forty five days now that district and cantonment departments are silent on the issue.
When contacted, MPA Muhammad Ikram said that he was alive to the issue and also met with the Cantonment Board officer and former DCO for resolution of the public issue but both the departments held the other responsible for repairing it.
The MPA said, “Khawaja Safdar Road is always repaired by the district administration and we planned to connect Islamia Park Road to it so that load of Degree College Sialkot may be diverted from Katcheri Road but the Cantonment Board stopped us from doing so.”
Despite a lot of efforts, the MNA concerned and the defense minister could not be accessed. Acting DCO Naveed Shehzad Mirza said that the Cantonment Board is liable for the bridge repair. If they say that it is our responsibility, they must do it in black and white.” However, he said that the bridge will be repaired as soon as possible after consultation with the Cantonment Board.