Bara Kahu, a suburban neighbourhood of the federal capital badly lacks the basic civic facilities despite its large population, which is estimated to be over one hundred thousand. The residents there are still without well built roads, natural gas, potable water and playgrounds etc. Bara Kahu is only around 10 km away from Islamabad but the short distance from the capital city has not been of any advantage to this locality. The roads are in a shambles, natural gas is still to be provided to different areas of Bara Kahu, the water is not safe for drinking and there are no proper playgrounds for youngsters in the entire neighbourhood. “It’s been twelve years since I came here to settle down from Islamabad. I was looking for a good job then .Since then I have been seen just the roads deteriorating and no department ever bothered to do anything in the area,” said Hamid Ilyas, a plumber in his mid-thirties. He said that all the politicians, who ever got elected from there, only made hollow promises with the locals during their election campaigns, but once the election were over, they would never return to the neighbourhood they were representing. Irum batool, a schoolteacher, who lives in ‘Nai Abadi’ of Bara Kahu, said that the natural gas supply was a persistent problem in her neighbourhood. “We did manage to get a gas connection few months back but the pressure was very low in winter and it was very difficult to cook,” she said.
She said that because of the low pressure the room heaters had become useless and they were really worried about the health of their children.
She said the roads of Bara Kahu were all in ruins and her husband’s car, which was brand new two years ago, had now become a ‘wreck’.
She said the elected representatives and authorities had made many promises in that regard but to no avail. Then there is another major problem that the residents of Bara Kahu are facing and it is the shortage of clean drinking water and the dwellers and especially the children are very vulnerable to different waterborne diseases. Asif Ali, a young cricketer from the same locality said the authorities should build some proper playgrounds in Bara Kahu. “This area is full of talented players who can be very good in various sports but it is very unfortunate that they don’t have any grounds to polish their talent and excel in their games,” he said.
