Residents of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) faced issues when the administration of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) denied the entrance of vehicles without parking stickers on Thursday. Students parked their cars in front of various houses in the vicinity of LUMS. More than 100 cars were parked in a residential area, which not only disturbed the residents but also caused commuters inconvenience. DHA U-block residents said that they were facing consequences of LUMS students and the LUMS administration’s negligence. Residents complained that both DHA and LUMS enjoyed high-quality standards but their negligence over this issue could prove to be quite frustrating for residents.
Students also faced difficulty, as they had to park their vehicles outside the university and walk a long way to reach their classes. The residents of DHA have been facing issues commuting because of the traffic issues outside LUMS. LUMS Security Head Amir Khan told Pakistan Today that the LUMS management had informed students three months ago to get their entrance stickers updated. He denied that residents faced difficulties and said that students were not allowed to park their cars in front of houses. Owing to the prevailing security issues, the university was forced to ensure strict security measures in order to provide a risk-free environment to students, he added. Amir said that the deadline was extended thrice for students’ convenience but they failed to comply.
LUMS security official Khalid Butt said that 80 percent of freshmen got stickers, while others would get them soon. He said that Thursday was the last date to get the stickers. He rejected reports of disturbances faced by residents and said that guards were ensuring smooth traffic outside the campus. DHA Public Relations Officer (PRO) Tajmmul said that he did not get any complaint about the issue but guards would be sent to facilitate residents if such a situation arose. DHA resident Asad said that he was facing difficulties while reaching home as the U-block streets were blocked due to the LUMS traffic. He said hundreds of cars were parked outside LUMS and were hindering traffic while DHA was silent over the issue. Asad said that the situation worsened when a function or a ceremony took place in the university. Another resident, Fareeha, said that long cues of cars created a mess which disturbed the traffic flow and the issue should be resolved soon. She said that people would avoid buying houses near LUMS due to parking issues.
it's just pathetic how the LUMS admin is blaming the students for the problem…as the people in charge it is their job to facilitate student parking such that issues like these are not created….instead of thinking of better ways to approach the students or changing the damn sticker policy to something that would not require this regular hassle, Mr. Amir refuses to take responsibility and apparently is inclined to do nothing about the issue…..as i recall this isn't the first time something like this has happened….i'm sure a solution can be easily devised without compromising security as well as the flow of traffic in the surrounding areas, if someone is ready to put some effort into it… of course i will not present an alternative on this platform as i do not get paid for it and it is thus not my responsibility- which is not the case for some people of course…..
hopefully Mr. Amir can find the motivation from somewhere to buckle up and start addressing the issue instead of denying that it even exists. until then, we can only pray…
Refusing to admit that the problem exists is the worst possible approach that one could adopt, and sadly administrators all over the country tend to do so on a consistent basis.
While I admit that students deserve part of the blame, the admin cannot just let the commuters and DHA residents suffer because of issues pertaining to LUMS and its students.
They need to settle the matter internally, and hopefully in a manner which doesn't end up irking the students, because at the end of the day the admin is there to serve the students and make their time at LUMS easy.
In fact it is responsibility of LUMS management to provide parking space for students which should be capacious as well as secure.
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