Farmers, blind people choke Lahore city for hours

LAHORE: Massive traffic jams were witnessed on the main city roads on Thursday due to the protest of the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) and Pakistan Association of the Blind (PAB).
The absence of a contingency plan by the city traffic police worsened the situation. Vehicles were seen moving at a snail’s pace in long queues on The Mall, Multan Road, Davis Road, Jail Road, Canal Road, Ferozepur Road and other major arteries of the city, causing a great deal of inconvenience to commuters for hours.
Students, teachers and other government and private workers got late to their offices. A good number of students also failed to appear in examination.The traffic police were a picture of helplessness. The police manhandled and arrested many workers and leaders of PKI during their protest in front of the Lahore Press Club on Wednesday.
A large number of farmers from different districts of the Punjab started moving to Lahore at night to protest the arrest of their comrades.As they reached near Thokar Niaz Beg on Multan Road, the police stopped them from entering the city, forcing them to stage a sit-in. They continued their protest throughout the night and the next day (Thursday).
Trucks, trailers and other vehicles carrying goods and edibles also could not enter the city. The Multan Road was completely choked from Thokar Niaz Beg to Chauburgi. Traffic jams on the Multan Road forced the residents of Lahore to make detours to reach their workplaces and destinations.
Apparently, the city traffic police had not devised any contingency plan. They neither set diversions nor issued prior intimation to commuters about the traffic situation.In the afternoon when schools were closing, blind people started protesting at the Faisal Chowk while the PKI activists picketed on the Club Road, adding fuel to the fire.
The Mall was completely blocked for every kind of traffic and vehicles were diverted to the already overloaded Canal Road and Jail Road. Blockade at The Mall also affected traffic on Davis Road, Empress Road, Durand Road, Abbott Road, McLeod Road and Allama Iqbal Road.
When contacted, Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Tayyab Hafiz Cheema said he was busy clearing the route for Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.It was really deplorable that while common citizens were stranded on roads for hours, the CTO was clearing the CM’s route.
Talking to The News, CCPO Amin Wains said they were utilising all their resources to maintain the flow of traffic. He said thousands of activists of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad had tried to enter the city on Thursday but they were pushed back.
He said he had personally talked to the protesters and tried to convince them to hold a peaceful protest without creating hurdles for traffic.About the increasing number of protests in the provincial metropolis, the CCPO said the departments concerned should hold a productive dialogue with the aggrieved parties to avoid a law and order situation.
To another question about the traffic contingency plans, the CCPO said the City Traffic Police had diverted the traffic to all possible alternative routes but the pressure of traffic on The Mall and Jail Road was so huge that it had choked the traffic of entire city.
Meanwhile, commuters kept on shifting from one road to another all the day in search of a safe passage. Shahab Ansari told The News that he lived in Johar Town and worked in an office on the Davis Road.
“Normally, it takes me half an hour to reach my workplace but today it took me more than three hours,” he said. Another citizen Ayub Mirza was also perturbed by the situation. He said protests and sit-ins had become the order of the day in the city.