The commuters of twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are facing traffic rush on the Express Highway due to rains as well as strict security measures for ensuring safety of citizens and participants of Azadi and Inqalab March.
Although, the concerned department has taken special measures to ensure smooth flow of traffic but uninterrupted rain which started early in the morning while security measures causing difficulties to the motorists.
The commuters of Express Highway and other main routes are facing problems due to the prolonged sit-in of Inqalab and Azadi March which have disturbed the routine life in few parts of the city especially red zone.
“Normally I reach office in 20 minutes but today, it took around one to one and a half hour due to traffic rush and extra security at check posts”, said Asif Ali, who works at a private office at Zero Point. He added that the present rain spell has added fuel to the fire as it is test of our nerves to travel and reach our destinations in almost double time with bumper to bumper traffic.
A government employee, Sabir Hussain said from Khanapul to Dhok Kala Khan stop, I reach in almost one hour due to traffic rush and reaching office late till start of these marches.
“What are the benefits of these marches for a common man except increasing their problems, leaving them with no option except to take long routes or stuck in traffic wasting fuel and having extra burden on our pockets”, he added.
People travelling on Kashmir Highway have to take turn to Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) to again catch the road near PTV-2 due to the development work of Metro Bus project.
The business community in different areas of capital is specifically affected by these protests as the number of customers has reduced for last two weeks and their sale graphs are constantly showing downward trends.
Students are also main victims of these marches as their vacations have been extended for five times before reopening of their school on Wednesday and they have lost precious time of three weeks of their studies.
