Monday was not the best of days in the lives of the citizens of Lahore. Major roads in the city remained clogged all day long ‘in honour’ of the visiting Turkish dignitary as hapless commuters blared their horns and grumbled at the inefficiency of the traffic police department which had failed to come up with a proper traffic management plan for the two-day state level visit.
With foreign dignitaries staying in a local five-star hotel, The Mall, one of the busiest road in the city was closed down from Governor’s House up to Gymkhana Club for all kinds of traffic. Traffic for The Mall was diverted to alternative routes, adding extra pressure on all the major arteries in the city.
This led to great mayhem on the roads throughout the day. Miles long traffic jams and blockages were seen at the Jail Road, Canal Road, Ferozepur Road, Lower Mall, Gulberg and Model Town and adjoining areas.
Such was the chaos that many VVIPs invited at Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s events at Aitchison College and Hazoori Bagh could not even reach the venues and remained stranded on the roads along with the general public.
At places the commuters were seen engaged in heated arguments with traffic wardens. This reporter also witnessed a couple of ambulances howling their sirens relentlessly to make way to the hospitals. This prompted several people to come out of their vehicles and rebuke the traffic wardens for not coming up with a better road management plan.
“It took me about 30 minutes to cover only a short distance from Shah Jamal to Canal Road. Is this the good governance promised to us before the elections?” complained one computer.
The traffic became unmanageable in the evening when the people were returning to their homes from their offices and businesses outlets.
“If the Turkish PM is on a visit, why are they making us suffer?” said Shoaib Chaudhry, a lawyer who couldn’t reach his evening job in time.
Muhammad Rehan, another citizen said the traffic plan in place showed the competence of the department concerned. “Why do they even plan such visits when they can’t handle it properly,” he said while talking to Pakistan Today.
A traffic police official told Pakistan Today that they had tried their best not to inconvenience the citizens “but I suppose there were some incidents of bad traffic management”.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif received the Turkish chief executive at the Allama Iqbal International Airport. The visiting premier is accompanied by prominent Turkish businessmen.
