Lahore: CAA says ‘no parking’, VIPs say ‘don’t bother’

[LRE]

CAA says ‘no parking’, VIPs say ‘don’t bother’

By Hasan Ali

LAHORE: Despite efforts made by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), it has failed to implement the ‘no parking’ restriction outside the departure terminal of Allama Iqbal International Airport, sources within the CAA told Daily Times on Friday.

The CAA has declared the road outside the departure terminal a ‘no parking’ zone and it announces this throughout the airport at regular intervals. However, these announcements seem to be of no use as drivers continue to park their vehicles right outside the departure terminal.

To avoid traffic jams during flight hours, the vigilance department of the CAA started to issue tickets to the violators, but most of the vehicles belonged to influential politicians or members of the armed forces or law enforcement agencies due to which the staff was hesitant to issue tickets.

According to the sources, the owners of these vehicles often threatened the vigilance staff and have on many occasions fought with the CAA officials after which the CAA has decreased the issuing of such tickets. A lift operator of the CAA vigilance department, Muhammad Saqlain, said that he had once requested the driver of a government vehicle to park his car in the designated parking area, but the driver had threatened to get him dismissed from his job instead of moving the car.

A senior CAA official, seeking anonymity, said that drivers usually parked their cars next to government cars, so that they could question the vigilance staff as to why vehicles bearing government plates were allowed to park in front of the departure terminal.

“The authority has remained unsuccessful in resolving this issue, however, it has been drafting a new mechanism to meet the issue. It is expected that the authority will increase the fine for violators in the new plan,” he added.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...008_pg13_3