kind of traffic and vehicles were diverted to already overloaded Canal Road and Jail Road. Blockade at The Mall also affected traffic at Davis Road, Empress Road, Durand Road, Abbott Road, McLeod Road and Allama Iqbal Road too. When contacted, Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Tayyab Hafiz Cheema, the operator said he was busy in clearing the route for Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif. It was really deplorable that while common citizens were stranded on roads for hours, the CTO was on a VVIP duty of clearing the CM’s route in the city.
Talking to The News, CCPO Amin Wains said Lahore Police have been utilising all-out 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 policemen stopped them from creating further mess.
He said he personally held dialogue with protestors and tried to convince them for 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 productive dialogue with the aggrieved parties to avoid law and order situation.
To another question about the traffic contingency plans, the CCPO said that City Traffic Police divert traffic to all possible alternative routes but the pressure of traffic on The Mall and Jail Road is so huge that it chokes the traffic of entire city.
Meanwhile, the commuters kept on shifting from one road to another all the day in search of a safe passage. One Shahab Ansari told The News that he lived in Johar Town and worked in an office on Davis Road. Normally it would take him half an hour to reach his workplace but on Thursday it took him more than three hours, he said.
Another citizen Ayub Mirza was also perturbed by the situation. He said protests and sit-ins have become order of the day in city. Officers of City Traffic Police rather than indulging themselves in useless exercises, photo sessions and publicity stunts need to ponder on policies to maintain uninterrupted flow of traffic in emergency situations, he added.