The residents of Model Town Humak and its adjoining localities are facing acute shortage of public transport service on Sihala-Raja Bazar route as they have no option to travel other than the Suzuki van. Thousands of people daily travel on this route which starts from Raja Bazar, Rawalpindi and culminate at Sihala Bazar - a rural area of the federal capital.
People especially students, government employees and factory workers talking to APP said that Suzuki van service is extremely insufficient to cater to the needs of the area. They have demanded of the concerned authorities for plying of Toyota Hiace van and bus service between Sihala and Raja Bazar route to create an atmosphere of healthy competition among transporters and provide a respectable journey to commuters.
"Women are among the worst sufferers as there is no proper seating arrangements for them in Suzuki vans, which has the sitting capacity of 12 persons," said Rehmat Ali - a resident of the area. Another resident, Muhammad Sultan said earlier Varan bus service was launched at the route but it was not allowed to operate by owners of Suzuki vans.
"They (owners) have made their monopoly and do not allow any other service to operate at this route by force," he added. He recalled that when the bus service was initiated, Suzuki owners had blocked the G.T road near Swan bridge besides damaging three buses of the Varan company. They also demanded of the concerned authorities for immediate repair of Swan-Kak bridge section of Kahuta road to ensure smooth flow of traffic.
The dilapidated condition of the road could lead to a tragic incident as vehicles plying on the road are in habit of zig zag and rash driving to avoid rough patches putting aside all traffic rules. "This part of Kahuta road is of great importance as its one end touches the Grand Trunk Road and the other links Islamabad Highway. Besides this road connects Azad Kashmir with other parts of the country," a resident of the area Muhammad Tahir said.
Khurrum, another resident said Kahuta Triangle Industrial Estate is located on one side of the road while on the other side is a residential colony, Model Town. Plying of heavy traffic on the patchy track due to presence of Industrial Estate and being a busy road which leads to Azad Kashmir, poses grave threat to commuters, he added.
It is also pertinent to mention that a number of private schools are located alongside the road and undisciplined traffic, mainly due to extremely bad condition of the road, could lead to an untoward incident. Residents of the area have demanded of the concerned authorities to giving proper attention to the neglected road so that they could feel some degree of safety.
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