The closure of Khushalgarh bridge over Indus River on Pindi- Kohat road has created a lot of problems for the commuters between the two cities, it has been learnt.
The centuries old Khushalgarh bridge, which used for both road and railway traffic, was closed for all sort of road traffic some on Thursday for emergency repair work.
The historic bridge comes under the administrative control of Pakistan Railways, the sources said.
They said the bridge connects Punjab with Khyber Paktunkhawa (KPK). It was built by British rulers around 109 years ago in 1904.
It will remain closed to traffic for maintenance and necessary repair of the road for about a month till July 25, the sources said.
One alternative route is Kohat-Peshawar road via main GT road. For this the commuters have to travel over 250-km extra distance, causing wastage of time and extra fares, they observed.
As a result, closure of the bridge has caused a lot of inconvenience and hardships for thousands of people who travel on this route on daily basis besides suspension of inter-provincial goods transportation.
The administration of Attock and Kohat districts have made alternative arrangements to facilitate the commuters, under which, Kohat and Rawalpindi bound vehicles drop passengers at the respective starting points of the bridge.
Then the passengers have to cross about 500-meter-long bridge on foot to reach the other side and catch bus. But such practice is not an easy job especially for women and elderly people and in case of heavy luggage with them, it revealed.
Some local people of Jand and surrounding villages told Dawn that the authorities had chosen a wrong time for repair of the bridge particularly when Ramazan was just a few days away.
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