The oranging of Lahore

This refers to the article, ‘The oranging of Lahore’ (June 1) by Khusro Mumtaz. The writer has expressed his dissatisfaction (and rightly so) regarding the running of the Orange Line train in Lahore by the provincial government. A lot of trees have been chopped down to pay the way for the project. The writer has suggested that a viable transport system should be provided to the people of Lahore by reserving one lane of main (existing) thoroughfares exclusively for this purpose. This system should comprise state-of-the-art, air-conditioned, well-maintained, environment-friendly and government-owned buses that should run like clockwork on a specific, 10-15 minute schedule. The amount that would have been spent on such a transport network would have been much less as compared to the money being spent on the Orange Line Train.

Moreover, why are all these favours being showered on Lahore alone? This city has already been provided with a metro-bus system. Why doesn’t the provincial government focus on the genuine needs of other cities too, especially those in southern Punjab? And why doesn’t the government think of introducing hybrid electric buses? A hybrid electric bus combines a conventional engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. There are 1,500 hybrid buses running in London alone. London has even started converting its double-deck buses to the hybrid electric system.

Air-Cdre (r) Azfar A Khan

Rawalpindi