Livelihoods might fly away with the Muslim Town Flyover

To the utter inconvenience and discomfort of the commuters, traders and residents of Ferozepur Road, construction work on Muslim Town Flyover has started on Jamia Ashrafia side of the road. Traffic is expected to pass through an extremely narrow way that is creating massive jams and delays for the commuters and the traders who have their shops along the road have been deprived of their parking lots to make space for the heavy machinery. Muslim Town Mor is considered to be one of the most important arteries of the city where Canal and Ferozpur Road meet. These roads are always busy because the area is home to commercial, educational and residential buildings.
Traders and commuters complain that they were not informed about the execution of the plan and sudden start of construction on Jamia Ashrafia’s side is turning out to be a nuisance for them.
Muslim Town Flyover that would arch over the Canal and Muslim Town Mor to reach WAPDA Hospital would be the longest flyover in the city and would be in the shape of a giant S. Hundreds of hardware, medicine, paint, battery, carpet and curtain shops located around the Muslim Town Flyover are running successful businesses. Traders fear that the construction could have cosmic consequences since they would lose customer loyalty in four months because of a lack of parking space. “My business is going down day by day because of the construction,” a tile shop owner at Ferozpur Road, Yousuf told Pakistan Today.
“Traders were never involved in any decision making and unfortunately we are the ones who are going to suffer the most,” he said, adding “hundred of shopkeepers are worried about what would happen to their businesses by the time the flyover is completed.”
He said the procedure could have been made shopkeeper-friendly by involving them in the discussions.
Citizens and traders around the Muslim Town Mor have also complained of long electricity outages due to the construction, saying that they were not being informed of the power outages that left them without electricity and water for a long time.
On the other hand, Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Ahmad Mubeen rejected that there were any traffic jams but accepted that the traffic has been slow due to the ongoing work. CTO said 100 traffic wardens had been deputed around the flyover and adjoining roads to facilitate the public. “Parking is the problem of the customers and the shopkeepers, not ours,” he said. Citizens also said the Canal Bank Road widening was also being done along with the construction of the flyover and that was aggravating the traffic situation. A routine commuter of Muslim Town Mor, Umer said the Kalma Chowk Flyover was better managed but the case was different this time.
Traders also hoped that the flyover would improve the traffic flow along with their businesses.
A photocopy shop owner, Sadiq said that the feasibility report about the flyover was made but no planning was done to address the miseries of businessmen. He hoped the situation would improve if somebody from the quarters concerned addresses their worries.