Punjab: Development, but at what cost?

The Punjab government has wasted millions of rupees in uprooting and replacing plants, saplings and trees, as well as changing the design of some under construction projects, on Ferozpur Road, apparently with a view to the road’s widening and remodelling.TheNation has reliably learnt that the Transport Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA) and the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), in collaboration with some other government departments, have uprooted hundreds of precious and costly plants from the greenbelt and road dividers, constructed in the middle and at both sides of Ferozpur Road.Sadly, this practice continues because different government departments are launching new projects – such as reconstruction of Ferozpur Road; construction of overhead bridges and underpasses on Ferozpur road; and construction of a special track in the middle of Ferozpur Road for plying special buses – to please Shahbaz Sharif.Sources in the PHA informed this scribe that the provincial government had also decided to construct a service road side by side the Ferozpur Road, from Kot Lakhpat Overhead Bridge (at the left side of Old Model Town Bridge on Ferozpur Road) to Qaddafi Stadium and alongside the Nawaz Sharif Park Model Town. “Unfortunately, government departments, particularly TEPA and the PHA, are slated to to cut down more trees because they are a hurdle in the construction of such a service lane,” the sources added.TEPA also uprooted dozens of old trees planted by the PHA on the opposite side of the Nawaz Sharif Park just because its engineers changed the design of the footpath and under construction greenbelt, causing a loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer, said the sources, adding: “It is difficult to calculate how much public money has so far been wasted by government departments that damaged trees and newly-planted saplings alongside the service road on Ferozpur Road.”The sources further said though the new projects initiated by the government were public welfare-oriented and were likely to add to the City’s beauty and facilitate the citizens, the point not to be missed here is that the government was wasting millions of rupees in planting and uprooting precious plants and changing the design of Ferozpur road repeatedly. “The government could have used the same funds on some other projects, especially roads, streets and sewerage pipeline-laying projects in backward areas of the provincial capital that are pending for construction for months or even years because of the lack of financial resources,” the sources maintained.“No pains, no gains!” remarked TEPA Director Mazhar Hussain Khan, who also heads the Bus Rapid Transport System project, while talking to TheNation. He said the govt had launched these projects to facilitate the citizens. “Though government departments had to uproot dozens of plants and trees to complete the project, the govt has not only directed TEPA and the PHA to save the uprooted trees, but also asked them to replant the same with new saplings in the green belts,” Mazhar contended.