Cops bide time as long march stalls

Police personnel deployed on long march duty in Attock and nearby districts turn to playing marbles with slingshot stones and bathe in the River Soan to pass time as they await protestors. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's much anticipated long march, which was first announced for September 27, but later postponed to October 3, has left police personnel hanging as they survive on limited resources. Several cops reported a lack of inadequate facilities, including shortage of drinking water, provision of stale food and limited washrooms. Police officers said they had become forced to use open fields and the space beneath the Attock Bridge as washrooms, which has damaged the nearby radish and carrots crops and polluted the area. The Soan River has also been repurposed as a place to bathe and was up. In informal chats with media representatives, police officers have said that they still have a couple of days during which they have to come up with ways to kill time. They shared that they had been using the stones provided with their slingshots to play marbles. Football, cricket and volleyball have also become favourite pastimes. They reported that during the ten days they had been assigned to duty, they were not allowed to go home and were keeping in contact with family through video calls. Many of the police personnel have arrived from far-off districts such as Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Multan, Khanewal, Jhang, Faisalabad, Jahanian and Layyah. Without proper facilities and lack of any medical services, many officers have reportedly fallen sick. Police officials have been suffering from ailments caused by the changing weather, such as colds, fevers and diarrhoea. Meanwhile, in Attock and surrounding areas, where containers have not yet been removed, locals have devised shortcuts to reach their homes, offices or shops by choosing to crawl from underneath the containers to cross the road. Many of them are willing to crawl up to 10 to 12 feet flat on their stomach to get to the other side.   box   RR to open for traffic soon after long march   our correspondent RAWALPINDI. The district administration has decided to open the Ring Road for traffic as soon as the tolling system becomes operational, without waiting for a major political or formal inauguration, after the opening ceremony was delayed nine times. The Ring Road will be opened for general traffic in the first 10 days of October soon after the issue of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) long march is resolved. The road will be opened within 24 hours of completion of the tolling system, while the inauguration ceremony will be held at any time later. Carpeting of the 38-kilometre Ring Road has been completed, while its estimated cost has crossed the alarming mark of Rs55 billion and continues to rise rapidly. According to the district administration, more than 98 per cent of the basic construction work (main carriageway) has been completed. The main track of the project is fully ready and carpeted. However, work on the toll plaza infrastructure, lighting and finishing is nearing completion. Due to continuous delays, an increase in material prices and escalation charges, the total cost of the project has now reached Rs55 billion. The project was initially estimated at around Rs22.8 billion, which later increased to Rs46.6 billion and has now reached Rs55 billion with some components of Phase-II and other expenses.