The federal capital was chaotic, crowded and under stress during the Eid holidays amid a huge influx of visitors to its famous tourist sites, including Lake View Park, Daman-i-Koh, Faisal Mosque, Centaurus Mall and Murree Hills.

Footfalls to major tourist spots, eateries and shopping hubs were so high that the city administration took to blocking the main entry points, barring visitors from entering the city during peak hours. This constricted the flow of traffic at cardinal points, causing inconvenience to many visitors.

“It was shocking that the city traffic police closed all entry points of the city for hours without priorinformation, leaving tens of thousands people stranded on the roads in their vehicles,” Ali Zeb, who was stranded with his wife and children for more than two hours at an entrypoint told The News on Sunday. “We need better management,” he said.

“The main recreational points of the city were overrun with visitors. This caused traffic jams on the adjacent roads. Disgruntled commuters were stuck there for hours. That’s why we decided to temporarily block the entry points,” said a senior traffic police official.

“In fact, we anticipated this. Traffic jams are common around Eid. We were just trying to facilitate citizens,” he added.

“Over 40,000 vehicles enroute to Murree also entered Islamabad, further worsening the choked traffic system. Tens of thousands of people visited Lake View Park and Centaurus Mall over Eid holidays,” he said.

Islamabad Traffic Police deployed as many as 5,000 policemen on different routes and points to ensure security and smooth running of the traffic during these days. To prevent accidents and ensure road safety, strictaction was taken against over 2,000 bikers caught flouting traffic rules and one-wheeling.

The city police also heightened security measures, allowing only families to enter public parks. However, it was not an easy task to police so many people.

Centaurus Mall imposed its own rules, charging Rs 300 per person from single men entering without families.

Over 500 traffic officers were deployed to ensure smooth flow of traffic and over 3,500 police officers patrolled the city. As many as one and a half dozen checkpoints were set up at the city’s entry and exit points.

The Islamabad Police made special security arrangements for parks and recreational areas to ensure the safety of citizens. Quick response teams patrolled different parts of the city to respond promptly to any emergency.

The deputy inspector general, the chief traffic officer, the senior superintendent of police in charge of Operations were present in field to monitor security and traffic arrangements.

Afaq Akhtar, a resident, said comprehensive measures were in place to prevent any untoward incident and to facilitate a peaceful celebration.

The authorities had urged the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activities to the relevant security agencies.

Capital Development Authority had announced that some of the main viewpoints of the city including Daman-i-Koh would soon become restricted only for families but the decision has yet to be implemented.

The writer is a staff member. He can be reached at vaqargillani@gmail.com