Senior Citizens' Forum Hayatabad- press release dated 15/11/2007

Press releasePeshawar, the November 15, 2007

A meeting of the General Body of the Forum was held on 13/11/2007 in the Scouts’ Building Hayatabad at 6pm. It was presided over by Mr. Muhammad Saadullah Khan, Chairman.

The meeting started with recitation from the Holy Qur’an. The Chairman invited the attention of the members to the termination of the duration of the existing cabinet and said that elections should be held for the next year, 2008.

The house unanimously re-elected the existing cabinet with the exception of Mr. Izzatullah Khan, Treasurer, who resigned, which was accepted.The house unanimously elected Qazi Muhammad Ashraf as the new Treasurer and the Press Secretary.

The Chairman invited the members to discuss various issues faced by the inhabitants of Hayatabad. Several members participated in the discussion, which culminated into the consentient passage of the following resolutions by the house:

1. The appointment of Mr. Jan Ali as the new DG, CD&MD was welcomed and it was termed as good omen for resolution of many problems faced by the residents of Hayatabad, which would be reminded to him in due course of time.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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 should be trained on the pattern of 1122 in the Punjab. The private security agencies should be monitored by the police.
11. The property managers 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.

Qazi Ashraf Khan

Information Secretary