Rawalpindi: Kumhar Road on the verge of collapse again

[Naveed Yaseen]

The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board has no other choice but to block the troubled Kumhar Road for heavy vehicles as it had again been damaged with the recent monsoon rains.

It took the RCB nearly six months to repair the Kumhar Road when a landslide occurred last year during the monsoon season.

The situation is not that bad this year, but the day is not far when the shopkeepers and the residents face the similar agony if the road does not get the necessary repairs.

The RCB, it seems, is helpless in getting the repairs done due to paucity of funds. They have made a feasibility report in which Rs7.5 million is required for the complete repair of the road.

“That’s our estimate because a retaining wall of around 40 feet has to be constructed along the Nullah Leh so that there’s no more land-sliding on the Kumhar Road,” Chief Engineer Abid Shah told ‘The News’ Tuesday.

For the time being, the Kumhar Road — leading from the Jinnah Road — has been blocked with six drums.

The other end of the road, coming from Gawalmandi, has been blocked with a barrier so that cars and trucks could not cross through the damaged portion of the Kumhar Road.

However, motorcycles and cycles have no problems in crossing through the damaged path of around 100 metres as they have made enough space in between the drums to cross through.

Abid Shah said that the RCB has forwarded the required estimates on the Kumhar Road to the concerned Members National Assembly Hanif Abbasi from NA-55.

“Let’s see when we get the grant so that once and for all the troubled portion of the Kumhar Road gets repaired,” the RCB official said.

Blocking the approach of the heavy vehicles might not last for days and with heavy monsoon rains expected for the rest of July and also in August, the residents of Kumhar Road fear that they could face the similar situation like the one last year.