Peshawar: Reconstruction of road Matani-Sherkera sought

[Naveed Yaseen]

PESHAWAR: Angry with their elected representatives for turning a blind eye to their problems, the residents of Awami National Party stronghold Sherkera union council called upon the government to reconstruct Matani-Sherkera Road, which they said was the longstanding demand of people of the area.

“Former MPA elected from PF-10 Javed Khan Mohmand had allocated Rs11.4 million in the annual development program (ADP) for the reconstruction of the Sherkera-Matani Road in 2007, but still the fate of the road is in the doldrums,” nazim union council Sherkera, Said Amin told ‘The News’.

The nazim said the PC-1 of the road had already been prepared which was to reconstruct under Tameer-e-Sarhad programme and fund was earmarked in the ADP, but the government was yet to start work on the road.

Amin said the road had been built in 1960s by the then West Pakistan MPA, Jalalud-din Afridi. However, nobody after that bothered to repair or reconstruct it. He said the area was a stronghold of the ANP and its people voted for ANP nominees, MNA Arbab Zahir and deputy speaker of the provincial assembly Khushdil Khan.

Said Amin said despite the fact both the MNA and MPA have a say in the government affairs, the people of the area were facing various problems. He said the reconstruction of road was the longstanding demand of the area where people of Afridis, Yousafzai and Mohmand tribes are residing. He said some of the work on the road was carried out in the tenure of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal however, work on three-kilometre road from Adezai to Sherkera was still pending, which needs to be reconstructed.

The UC nazim urged the federal and provincial governments to resolve genuine problems of the residents of the area. He said Town-IV was the most neglected town of the district Peshawar, which was faced with various problems.

Amin said the town, comprising 21 union councils, had been ignored in the past and its residents were facing various problems, including that of low voltage, loadshedding, non-availability of gas and shortage of irrigation water.

Nasrullah Khan Afridi, a school teacher, said 95 per cent population of the town had not been provided gas, however, he added the Sui Northern Gas Limited had laid pipeline passing through various union councils of the town which needs to be operationalised so that the people could get gas facility. He said since Town-IV has huge portion of land, therefore, a Hayatabad-like township could be developed on it, which would not only reduce burden on the city, but it would also usher in an era of development in the area.

Abdul Malik, a shopkeeper, said the law and order in the area was so poor that kidnapping for ransoms and incidents of dacoities were on the rise while the government had turned a deaf ear to it. He demanded of the government to establish a police post in the area to cope with the worsening law and order.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=138054