LAHORE
Rapid commercialisation and unplanned urbanisation accompanied by escalating pollution levels, food adulteration and unavailability of safe drinking water are the main problems which Lahorites will continue to face in 2016.
During the year 2015 the city faced several crises such as deaths of dozens of workers in a collapse of a factory in Sundar Industrial Estate, which raisedserious questions over the implementation of building rules and regulations and the role of CDGL and its related wings. Rapid commercialisation and presence of industrial clusters within the residential localities have turned the beautiful city of Lahore into a concrete jungle. One can easily find grave violations in building rules both in residential as well as commercial sectors across the city and no locality is an exception to such violations. Even industrial areas are also seeing different kinds of violations in building rules.
Adulteration in daily-use edibles especially milk and other food items continued in the city despite the fact Punjab Food Authority (PFA) carried out hundreds of raids. However, the pressure built on food adulterators subsided after a sudden disappearance of PFA’s Director Operations Ayesha Mumtaz from her seat due to ‘political’ pressure.
Price hike is also one of the biggest issues being faced by the citizens during the year 2015. Ironically most of the officers who were awarded the status of a first class magistrate did nothing except getting an extra name plate installed outside their offices as well as their homes highlighting their new status of a first class magistrate.
Urban development emerged as a vital challenge during the year and the provincial capital is already facing the problems of uncontrolled population and rapid mass migration from other areas. This is resulting in unplanned establishment of residential areas, unavailability of civic facilities like broken roads, scattered solid waste, encroachments, lack of public transport and other missing important infrastructure.
Construction of Orange Line Metro train has also sparked a controversy that many historical monuments are put at risk as many of them are present close tothe proposed track and they may be damaged in future. Different civil society organisations are aggressively campaigning against thetrack but in previous years the same organizations were demanding a better transport system.
The city also witnessed local government elections but still the process is underway and citizens may get the fruit of thesystem in the coming year 2016. The PML-N won majority of seats in the elections while PTI, the major opponent raised allegations of rigging. For the past many years, adulteration in daily-use edibles and food items is also a very big issue for the Lahorites and despite all tall claims of the CDGL authorities the situation remained unchanged. Easy availability of adulterated food items in the city is causing serious health threats.
In 2016, availability of safe drinking water in majority of the city areas will be one of the major incomplete tasks. Recently, the CDGL and elected representatives inaugurated several new water filteration plants but their timely maintenance is still a big question mark. Secondly, the CDGL carried out third party water sampling from over 1100 government schools but the study was not made public due to horrific results.
Disposal of hospital and solid waste in a scientific manner is also a big challenge to the CDGL authorities in 2016 as organised gangs are involved in sale, purchase and recycling of hospital and other hazardous waste in the city, which posea serious threat to the citizens as well as the people associated with the recycling industry in the city.
During the year most of the city roads have literally been changed into a parking stands as the CDGL did not take any solid action against illegal parking stands. Most of the city’s commercial zones are lacking parking plazas and no effort has been taken to solve this issue. LDA completed construction of a parking plaza in Allama Iqbal Town but still it is not under use and LDA is waiting for a proper company to takeover the plaza and run it.
During the year 2015, highly unhygienic, spurious and tainted milk continued to reach the city markets posing serious health hazards to the citizens especially children. Daily consumption of milk in Lahore in summer season is around 1.8 million litres out of which 0.3 million is packed milk while the rest 1.5 million is loose milk while the consumption decreases to about 1.5 million in winter season.
PFA officials admitted that chemicals like urea, caustic soda, refined oil especially used and cheap cooking oil and commonly used detergents are mixed into milk to increase its shelve life as well as to remove the traces of adulteration and hazardous chemicals. Detergents are added to emulsify and dissolve the oil into water, giving the frothy solution the characteristic white color of milk. Refined oil is used as a substitute to milk fat. Caustic soda is added to milk to neutralize the effect of increased acidity, thereby preventing it from turning sour during transport. Urea/sugar is added for leveling the contents of solid-not-fat (SNF) as are present in the natural milk.
Leaving aside a few prestigious roads like The Mall, Jail Road, Airport Road, roads in cantonment and Defence areas, Ferozpur Road, Canal Bank Road and some others which are well maintained due to VVIP movement, others tell a story of neglect and apathy of CDGL administration. It is not only roads but also bridges which remained in a state of neglect during the year, posing serious threats to vehicle owners and other road users.
However, the signal free project at Jail Road added two new underpasses in the city i.e. one at Fawara Chowk and other at Shadman Chowk. These underpasses have eased down the traffic load on Jail Road. Two new roads one connecting Canal Bank Road to Wahadat Road and second connecting Ferozpur Road to Multan Road via LOS crossing are termed successful projects of the year.
Elevated U-Turns, Walton Overhead and Biker’s Ring on Ferozpur Road between Quainchi till Chungi Amarsadhdu is also considered a feather in the cap of Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif. Construction of Azadi Chowk Flyover is also a good project for the city.
In the year 2015, the CDGL also acquired land for a new graveyard for the city, which is named as Sher-e-Khamoshan. Majority of the city graveyards have already reached their full capacity. The issue of construction of a new graveyard was pending since last many years. There are over 350 big and small graveyards in the provincial metropolis out of which Miani Sahib is the biggest as well as the oldest one. Citizens urged that in the coming year 2016 city administrators will take effective steps to improve the lives of the general public. They hoped that construction of metro train will end the problem of public transport without damaging the historical monuments especially Chuburgi and Shalimar Gardens.