No one would ever believe that Peshawar was once
called the "City of Flowers" and heritage because rickshaws
in the city have exceeded the number of those flowers and instead of aroma of the lost flowers people were intensively inhaling the poisonous carbon monoxide gas of tri-wheelers.
A study conducted in the city revealed that the level of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides in several places of Peshawar was very much higher than the international standards determined by the World Health Organization.
The increasing traffic chaos and emission of hazardous gases have been also causing various health problems for city dwellers. The atmosphere has been badly polluted with fumes and noise pollution had crossed all limits. The noise level in certain parts of the city ranges between 90 and 100 decibel, while the limit set by WHO is 85 decibel.
Rated as the most polluted city of the country, the average air pollution in Peshawar is 17 particles per million (PPM) and it goes up to 38 PPM at certain spots. Experts say that noise above 9 PPM is dangerous to human health.
Local physicians believe that these tri-wheelers are also key factors in the incidence of disorders like hearing impairment, hypertension and heart problems among the local populace.
Dr Muhammad Nawaz, a local ENT specialist, confirmed that vehicular noise not only affects hearing, but also triggers psychological and physiological ailments such as blood pressure, hypertension, increased heart rate and shortness of breath, stomach problems, stress, and disturbed sleep patterns. Explaining hearing impairments, he said that if an eardrum is damaged, it couldn’t regenerate again. Nawaz claimed that his 30% patients complain of hearing problems, largely due to the high vehicular noise levels.
If believed the official estimation it said that more than 50,000 rickshaws were plying on the city roads among which only 13,000 have permits and the rest were unregistered. It is a clear fact that 50,000 rickshaws cannot be accommodated on congested city roads and other road users have to suffer at the hands of the rickshaw drivers.
The road users of provincial metropolis had taken a sigh of relief and the city was also presenting a tranquil look in the past week when the drivers of the three-wheelers were on strike against a new traffic plan unfolded by the SP Traffic for them.
The traffic plan for rickshaws, which was agreed upon in a meeting with Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour in the chair, had suggested that rickshaws should be divided in two colors and one would be allowed to ply in the morning till afternoon and the other from the afternoon to late night.
The Minister had also directed the traffic police to first regulate rickshaws and then prepare plan for regulating other vehicles, including buses and taxi cars. But will it be possible to regulate the evergrowing numbers of rickshaws especially when they don't want to be regulated.
While some officials in Traffic Department consider the matter as out of control mostly believe that a proper mechanism should be devised and laws aimed at curbing this menace should be implemented in letter and spirit. They said no matter how much the situations aggravates it could effectively be controlled by implementing strict laws and stern checking.
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