Pakistan - Falling to pieces: The rickety bridge between life and death

The only land route to as many as five settlements of Dhamtor union council in Abbottabad city is a bridge which is in an alarming state of disrepair.

A constant threat has been posed to the lives of over 5,000 dwellers of Darkan, Dotar, Choti Ban, Mohallah Parr and Mohallah Abasiyan since the first week of April when merciless floodwaters lashed the passage near Mohallah Hasan Khel, leaving it in dire straits. The now-damaged passage was naturally created over a small hillock.

Subsequently, villagers made repairs on a self-help basis – a 25ft long wooden bridge that runs parallel to the hill. With no alternative to choose, schoolchildren, traders and factory workers walk the 4ft wide makeshift passage every day; their footsteps echoing in the 300ft deep ravine.

For better or for worse, nobody is sure how long the planks and bamboo sticks will be able to sustain the burden of government apathy. “Whenever I walk on the bridge, I feel it would fall off the very moment,” 5th grader Nazia Bibi told The Express Tribune. The resident of Choti Ban village said planks creak in protest as one sets foot on them.

Zardad Khan, a resident of Darkan village, milks his livestock every morning and sets out to supply the produce to roadside restaurants in the city. Also a daily commuter of the route, he said the local MPA and the communication and works department will be responsible in case of a probable accident.

Another resident of Darkan, Riaz Khan Jadoon did try his best to bring the issue to the notice of district administration. “My complaints fell on deaf ears,” he said. Muhammad Asif Khan, a resident of Dhamtor, even approached the local MNAs and MPAs. Referring to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government’s highly-trumpeted campaigns in the education sector, he said, “What good are their campaigns when our children will not live to go to school?”

Following local government polls, there is some hope the issue might be addressed in the near future. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Nasir Khan Jadoon who recently contested a district councillor seat but remained unsuccesful said he would visit the communication and works department soon and present the case before it.