A majority of traffic signals in the provincial capital are out of order, leaving the city’s traffic in a mess which speaks volumes on the lack of interest of traffic planners and those at the helm of affairs, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Most of the heavy traffic roads are being operated manually through traffic wardens, as at least 130 out of the 165 signals across the metropolitan remain useless.
Important arteries including The Mall, Jail Road, Ferozepur Road, Main Boulevard Gulberg, and Ring Road Baghbanpura intersection have a few signals operational, while the ones in Garhi Shahu, Iqbal Town, Faisal Town, Township, Raiwind Road, Multan Road, Kot Lakhpat and Defence Road are dysfunctional.
This has caused a lot of inconvenience for commuters and traffic wardens alike.
The traffic situation on all major roads is therefore in a pathetic condition, especially on adjacent arteries in the highly-populated areas of Yateem Khana and Bund Road.
“It took me two hours to reach Babu Sabu from Garden Town whereas the distance is almost a 40-minute drive,” Ahsan Saleem, an agitated motorist, told Pakistan Today.
Mian Omer, a motorcyclist on Ferozepur Road, said the BRTS project had become a permanent nuisance for commuters and he was worried about his job and health. “There is a lot of dust on the roads and traffic gets jammed for hours on a stretch and there is no one to look after it,” he said.
Talking to Pakistan Today, a senior traffic official said, “We are manually controlling the traffic for the past four months and this is the root cause of traffic problems. Because of growth in jams, the balance of traffic is difficult to control and operate manually since a large numbers of traffic signals are out of order”.
He further said their official holidays had been called off for almost two months and they were not given proper arrangements for traffic control. “The drivers ignore cautions of the traffic wardens in the absence of traffic signals, choking the traffic. Drivers, whether on a bus, wagon, car, rickshaw or motorcycle, are always impatient,” he said.
There are conflicting statements in this regard from different governments departments.
On the condition of anonymity, an official of Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA) told Pakistan Today that they had already sent a summary to City District Government Lahore (CDGL) for repairing and replacement of traffic signals and were looking forward for approval of the summary.
According to Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Captain Sohail, “A meeting was held under the supervision of commissioner Lahore. He has taken notice of the issue and ordered repair or replacement of all signals in the city. The work is being done and many signals have been made operational”.
A CDGL spokesman said the district government would allocate Rs 50 million to TEPA to resolve the traffic signal problem.
