Lahore: VVIP movement upsets Lahorites

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Arshad Dogar
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s movement in the provincial capital on Monday created troubles not only for commuters but also for pedestrians as traffic remained jammed for several hours.

The prime minister visited the houses of the late Iqbal Bano at Ahmad Block, Garden Town, and Majid Nizami, the editor-in-chief of an English daily, on the Masson Road for offering condolences and heavy contingent of police were deployed in the city for his security.

The major busy roads and all arteries linked to The Mall, Canal Road, Airport Road, Defence Mor, Ferozpur Road, Muslim Town Mor, Kalima Chowk and Campus Road were blocked with barricades and heavy contingent of police were deployed.

The movement of the PM was scheduled from his house in Defence to the late Iqbal Bano’s residence in Garden Town through Defence Mor, Walton Chowk, Cavalry, Liberty, Kalma Chowk, Muslim Town Mor and the City Canal. All major and minor roads linking to the aforementioned places were blocked which created a traffic mess for a long time.

After visiting the house of Iqbal Bano, the prime minister went to the house of Majid Nizami through the Campus Pul, Canal, The Mall, the Governor’s House, China Chowk and Masson Road. The Canal and The Mall, which are at the heart of the city, were blocked at around 11am which adding to the woes of motorists. The city was sealed for the security measures and a strict vigilance was kept on the movement of the masses.

The Mall was the major road that was blocked from all sides and nobody was allowed to ply on the road. The traffic flow on all the linking routes, including the Fatima Jinnah Road, Hall Road, Jail Road, Lawrence Road, Canal Road and Davis Road was blocked and no one was allowed to reach The Mall.

The commuters faced more problems when the PM moved back to the Allama Iqbal International Airport from the house of Majid Nizami. All the traffic moving towards the Mall was sent back to Joray Pul and Sadr and Mughalpura. The commuters and pedestrians, in order to reach their destinations, rushed to the small roads but as there were no traffic police officials to control the traffic, the roads remained jammed for two hours. The vehicles were jammed bumper to bumper and there was no way to cross the roads.

The routine life was suspended and all the engagements already made by the citizens were cancelled. The patients and the injured in the road accidents could not move to hospitals. The employees working in private companies had also to face severe problems to reach their offices and back to their homes in time. The business activities also remained very thin as no one could visit the shops on The Mall.

The commuters showed their annoyance against the government officials and said that the VVIPs’ visits should not disturb their routine. The city traffic police were also witnessed helpless in front of the traffic mess. They also failed to provide any proper traffic diversions to maintain the flow of traffic on the city roads.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=174714