DANGEROUSLY DELAPIDATED OR NEGLECTED BRIDGES Some may find it a shameful irony to think that a country like Pakistan, which has produced personalities of exceptional calibers like Mohammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948) (lawyer, politician, and the founder of Pakistan), Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) (the great poet, writer, and philosopher of Pakistan), Dr. Abdus Salam (1926-1996)(a superb scientist and the first Pakistani to have received the prestigious Nobel Prize in theoretical physics), a country that knows how to deal with nuclear technology, cannot manage to restore or rehabilitate dangerously deteriorated bridges. Why are we so humiliatingly unfortunate to realize that a country like ours which owns outstanding individuals like Mr. Abdul Sattar …show more content…
This is not to say that European countries are all perfect places to be and no problems do exist there. But at least they have set a reasonable and minimum standard below which they would not think to go. In Pakistan, almost everything is compromised. Anything that comes into your mind that constitutes a major concern to the public, is compromised. Take the standard of bridges, for example. What do we see? The majority of bridges (i.e. railway bridges, pedestrian bridges, general traffic bridges) have far outlived their lives. More than 300 high-risk bridges across whole Pakistan exist and have become a lion’s den to the general public. Some people are so awkwardly unaware of the daily hazards their life is exposed to that from the standpoint of outsiders watching people drive over or travel across such dodgy bridges would perhaps trigger the same level of adrenaline inside their body as if they had jumped from K2. Admittedly, the above analogy is somewhat far-fetched, but still there is some hard truth in it. Unsurprisingly, one of the world’s most dangerous bridges are found in Pakistan. Take for example the two Burma Bridges over the Korang River on the Lehtarar Road. Their dilapidated condition is since more than four decades ago known to the local citizens as well as to everyone passing by. But unfortunately no one bothers a least bit about the danger it poses to drivers and other traffic users. Unfortunately, most people in Pakistan are so unbelievably conditioned to such life-threatening circumstances that It seems like they have been, and will stay, sleepwalking their entire life not realizing what is happening with and around