PESHAWAR: Residents of Badbher, Mattani and other nearby localities have expressed their serious concern over the increasing accidents on Kohat Road in Peshawar and urged the provincial government to remove all encroachments and widen the road to overcome the traffic issues.

Talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday, a group of people led by general councillor of Badbher Maryamzai, Malik Shad Mohammad, said that being part of the Indus Highway, Kohat Road had become very busy and the heavy traffic had made lives of the local people extremely miserable.

He said that the people, especially schoolchildren, could not easily cross the road.

Shad Mohammad said that excessive encroachments had been adding to the traffic issues besides malcing movement ofthe pedestrians difncult on bothsides of the road.

He said that there was a girls high school just yards away across the Kohat Road and hundreds of students had to cross it daily in the morning and then in the afternoon.

The local councillor said that the road was very narrow, particularly near the bus stop of Speen Jumaat, where scores of people used to wait for catching passenger vehicles for reaching their destinations. He said that there was no check on speeding, especially on the movement of trucks, trailers and mini-buses. He suggested that the government should ensure presence of traffic police personnel on the road and erect speed breakers to control traffic.

He demanded of the provincial government to approve construction of an overhead bridge near Speen Jumaat so that the people could safely cross the road. He also suggested installation of cat eyes to manage traffic in lanes. He warned that the people could block the road to draw attention of the relevant officials to their problems. Bureau Report