For the past five months, the Allama Iqbal Road, from Gharhi Shahu to Mayo Garden, has been dug up without a plan or adequate funds to complete the project. The Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) had excavated the road to lay down sewerage pipelines of large diameters but the construction work has been withheld since there was no planning mechanism devised to complete the project.
The City District Government Lahore (CDGL), responsible for the inconvenience, is yet to finalise the design and to allow the National Logistic Cell (NLC) to initiate the project. The CDGL could also be held responsible for withholding the project by not compelling WASA to prioritise the project and complete it as soon as possible.
The affected road is one of the oldest roads in the city and has historical significance as the national poet, Allama Iqbal, resided in the same area. The main center of Ahmedees also lies alongside the road. A number of political leaders and judges’ houses and a number of schools, banks, mosques and shops are also on the road. The important buildings on this road are the Iqbal Museum, the Railway Headquarters, the Railway Hospital, Jamia Ashrafia, Ghari Shahu Main Bazaar, Mayo Garden and Bird Market.
The road banks on a thickly populated area Gharhi Shahu as well. The road has to bear heavy traffic throughout the day and the WASA administration has postponed the construction of the road without contemplating the trouble it might cause the citizens. Due to the postponement in construction, heavy clouds of dust are seen throughout the day. The situation has caused traders, residents, school children and worshippers inconvenience.
A resident of the area, Nasir Ali, told Pakistan Today that citizens had to bear with the dust every day and that throat infections were increasing because of the pollution. Due to jam-packed traffic, the noise pollution on the road also troubled the citizens, he added. A shopkeeper, Ghohar Khan, said that owing to the blockade of the road, the number of customers had decreased and on Fridays, the situation worsens as people had security concerns because of last year’s terrorist incident in the Ahmediya center.
A petrol pump manager, Muhammad Shahid said that his daily sales had decreased from 40 to 60 percent. He said that the citizens were in an unfortunate state but the government did not pay heed to their concerns. After Eid, the work had sped down immensely and traffic jams were common in the area, he added. WASA Public Relations Officer Imtiaz Ghori told Pakistan Today that WASA had allocated a sum of Rs 120 million for this project.
He said that after Eid, the construction could not be initiated because of a delay in the tender notice. Ghori said that WASA would lay down sewerage pipelines from Mayo Garden to Ghari Shahu within 15 to 20 days. The dengue threat had added to a decline in the speed of the construction work as well, he added. Lahore Works and Services Executive District Officer (EDO) Akram Zafar said that after the WASA was done with the construction work, Works and Services department would start work on the road.
He said that the department understood that people faced difficulties commuting but due to heavy rains in past few days, work had been delayed. He said that the WASA would complete work in mid October and then the National Logistic Cell (NLC) would start work on the project.
