The roads in Lahore are wide and well maintained but what irks the motorists and other road-users are the encroachments on the roads and haphazard parking of all types of vehicles. Smaller roads in the city are even more congested because shopkeepers illegally occupy some portion of the road in front of their shops, which they think is their right. Chief Minister Punjab is striving hard to improve the transport system of the city; it is time he ordered the anti-encroachment department to clean up all types of encroachments on the roads.
Otherwise, widening of roads would only amount to providing more space to shameless encroachers. Parking of vehicles on road bends should be treated as an offence and offenders fined. The traffic wardens should be tasked with checking encroachments too as these hinder the flow of traffic. The traffic on the roads represents effectiveness of the city administration. If the traffic in any city is chaotic and encroachers occupy its roads, the people would surely think poorly of its administrators. To deter encroachers from encroaching, the material placed in the encroached space must be confiscated and the shopkeepers heavily fined. Let’s look and behave like a civilised nation.
MIRZA TUFTAN BAIG
Lahore