Sit-ins cause gridlock on many roads

LAHORE: City traffic system collapsed here in the provincial metropolis on Thursday due to just two sit-in protests.
The two protests, one at Faisal Chowk by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) and the second one in front of the Lahore Press Club by the students of a private university, caused severe traffic mess on Davis Road, Mcleod Road, Queen Mary Road, Garhi Shahu, Allama Iqbal Road, Egerton Road, Abbott Road, Kashmir Road, Montgomery Road, Regal Chowk, Lawrence Road, China Chowk, Jail Road, Mozang, Queen’s Road, Safanwala Chowk, Temple Road, Lytton Road, Fateh Sher Road, Ferozpur Road, Begum Road, Nabha Road, Mauj Darya Road, Old Anarkali, Chauburji, Lower Mall, and Data Darbar Road. Ironically, the traffic wardens were not present at their duty points at several places. The CTO Lahore himself regulated the traffic on The Mall near GPO Chowk but the situation reversed itself as he left the scene.
The traffic already crawling on most alternate routes due to sit-in protest by TLY at Faisal Chowk came to a grinding halt when the students of a private university staged a sit-in protest in front of the Lahore Press Club.
Closing busy city roads has become a norm in the provincial metropolis, which is resulting in severe clogging of main and connecting roads but who cares. Canal Bank Road, which is one of the most important arteries, is already facing an overload of traffic due to several bottlenecks especially at Jail Road and Dharampura and closure of Canal Bank Road always leads to traffic mess on all the nearby roads.Similarly, the ongoing construction work on Orange Line Train Project has already slowed down traffic on Raiwind Road, Multan Road, GT Road, Egerton Road, and etc and closure of The Mall added fuel to the fire.
rescuers: Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) has finalised arrangements for providing effective emergency cover on the auspicious occasion of Eid Milad-un-Nabi (PBUH) on 12th Rabi-ul-Awwal as over 9,000

rescuers shall discharge their duties in three shifts all over the Punjab.
The Provincial Monitoring Cell briefed the DG Rescue Punjab that 825 ambulances, 215 fire vehicles, 64 Rescue vehicles, 14 specialised vehicles and 655 motorbike ambulances shall remain alert on Eid Milad day (today).
According to the emergency plan, Rescue personnel shall also remain in close coordination with other related agencies and services in control room established in the districts and Provincial Monitoring Cell (PMC) and trained doctors shall supervise the arrangements on the day.
The Provincial Monitoring Cell of Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) shall also remain operational round-the-clock for monitoring all districts and providing directions, assistance and logistic support in case of any untoward incident. Rescue Punjab DG reviewed the emergency arrangements while presiding over a meeting here at Rescue 1122’s headquarters Thursday.