A delegation comprising of the cabinet and the members of the Executive Council of the Senior Citizens' Forum Hayatabad met Mr. Awais Ahmad Ghani, Governor, NWFP on 27th February, 2008 and discussed the following issues of the Township with him and he promised to solve them:
1. Water shortage
Hayatabad is basically a water-short and dry area and its under-ground water is over-exploited due to the rapidly increasing population and the residents are heavily charged, especially the commercial establishments like the educational institutions etc and the aquifer is not recharged due to aridity of the area. Thus due share of water should be allocated from the proposed water supply scheme from the Warsak/ Kabul river or the Warsak canal passing through the centre of the township to overcome the water shortage and to cope with the future water requirements of the expanding Hayatabad Town.
2. Diversion of Ring Road from habitation
The existing main road artery designed for serving various sectors of Hayatabad has been linked unfortunately with the so-called Ring Road and all the traffic to and from FATA and Afghanistan has been diverted to pass through the heart of the town, thus exposing the residents to all the hazards of the highway, including over-speeding, blowing of horns, pollution in the form of noise, dust, smoke, destroying the roads infrastructure through constant vibration, thereby shortening their useful life and above all compromising the privacy of the residential area resulting in depreciation of houses and other buildings etc. The southern bye-pass as extension of the Ring Road outside the limits of the town should be immediately constructed and the northern bye-pass also be completed forthwith to divert the out-bound traffic from Hayatabad.
3. Traffic control till diversion of Ring Road
In the meanwhile the main entrance to Hayatabad, which is unfortunately now also used as part of the Ring Road for international traffic be guarded by the traffic police to abide by the traffic laws including the restrictions of the habitation area i.e. speed limits, non-blowing of horns (esp. pressure horn) etc.
4. Restriction on commercial use of residential area
Commercial use of residential area for educational institutions, hostels, guest houses and other such uses has brought a multitude of social evils to the township, which should be immediately and forthwith stopped as enunciated in the original Master Plan of the Town.
5. Eviction of encroachments from the Ring Road
The Ring Road linking Hayatabad with the city is littered with encroachments on both sides, resulting in congestion on this road causing accidents and thus these should be immediately vacated.
6. Provision of Green Transport
As planned originally Hayatabad was a garden of Peshawar but owing to the increasing population and resultant traffic it has been polluted to a great degree and if not managed properly it would turn into a garbage bin and to avoid that situation the proposed green transport vehicles be first introduced for the transport within Hayatabad and outside it.
7. Expulsion of Afghan refugees
Most of the Afghan refugees ejected from the Kachha Garhi camp shifted to the nearby Hayatabad and concentrated in the already occupied houses exceeding the carrying capacity of these houses and the township, thus causing tremendous unbearable burden on the infrastructure and resources including houses, electric system, water supply, sewerage, roads, parks, hospitals, post offices and markets etc of Hayatabad. A survey should be conducted jointly by the CD&MD, Afghan
Commissioner, police and other concerned agencies to eject/ expel the people residing in houses beyond their capacity and monitored the situation perpetually to avoid recurrence.
8. Provision of emergency medical service
The emergency medical service including ambulance etc is non-existent in the town despite the fact that there are several hospitals and medical institutions both government and private. The CEOs of HMC, RMI and others may be approached to make arrangements on this issue.
9. Property dealers to keep record
The property dealers dealing in buying, selling and letting it on rent be regulated on scientific grounds and they be made duty-bound to screen the antecedents of people seeking houses, shops etc and their record passed on to the concerned police station both at the time of entry and vacation of property.
10. Provision of security
Last but not the least security remains one of the biggest problems of the township. More personnel should be sanctioned for all the police stations of Hayatabad and the existing staff posted here should be used only for security of the town. The emergency police need be trained on the pattern of 1122 in the Punjab. The private security agencies should be monitored by the police.
Qazi Ashraf Khan
Information Secretary
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