Dr Ilyas who remains physically fit at 70 years old says that the reason behind his good health is exercise. He says that regular cycling and walking keeps him strong even at this age.
“I used to go to college that was 4 kilometres away from my residence, by foot. Though roads at that time were narrower than they are now, footpaths were free for walking.” Dr Ilyas recalled his college life saying that people at that time preferred to walk. He said that people still want to walk to their destinations but unfortunately the lack of footpaths have kept them from doing so.
The Punjab government has ignored the pedestrians’ rights in this regard in the provincial capital as it despite spending billions of rupees on development projects.
The Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) led government has completed four years of its tenure in the province. With every passing day, Punjab chief minister and other government representatives have been boasting progress and development in the province but speaking from a pedestrian’s perspective, life has never been more difficult.
While passing through the roads in the city, it is very hard to find a feasible footpath or walkway for the pedestrians to walk on. If there is any footpath built, it is often occupied by encroachments. Most of the times these footpaths are blocked with barriers installed by law and enforcement departments.
Dr Ilyas lamented that with people being forced to look for transport rather than walking to their destinations, they walk less. This results in diseases that can easily be cured if people start walking more.
It has been observed that crossing roads from any point in the city is an arduous task for the pedestrians. While travelling on Mall Road, which is considered as the central road of the city, the misery of the pedestrians can easily be seen. The footpaths adjacent to the Chief Minister House, Wapda House, Punjab Assembly and CCPO office, has been closed on account of security threats. Queens Road, one of the busiest roads of Lahore, where Ganga Ram Hospital and Fatima Jinnah Medical College (FJMC) are located, is not adorned with a single footpath that may ease the pressure of traffic that a pedestrian has to bear. The lacking facility of footpaths on this road causes problems to the patients en route Ganga Ram and female students of FJMC.
Similarly, the situation on other main roads and arteries in the city is not different. A couple of years ago, the government completed a signal free corridor on Jail road. During the construction of this project, the pedestrians’ rights were ignored. Bridges were constructed along the road that was supposed to facilitate the pedestrians but they were never used as most of the commuters that cross the road are either students that don’t bother to use the bridges or patients that cannot go up the bridge.
The busiest road of Lahore, Ferozpur Road, also turned into a signal free road also keeps the pedestrians at a disadvantage. Commuters avoid walking on this road.
Advocate Azhar Siddique termed the government as a violator of laws for infringing the rights of the pedestrians. Speaking to Pakistan Today, he said that walking is the fundamental right of any citizen and the government is responsible for providing this right to every citizen. He added that Article 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 25 and 38 of the Constitution deal with this fundamental right of the pedestrians.
Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) Chief Engineer Israr Saeed said that to facilitate the pedestrians footpaths have been constructed throughout the roads. While talking to Pakistan Today he said that the pedestrians are considered as the most important part of the traffic that also have the strength to disturb the vehicular traffic.
“TEPA has always considered footpath a major part of the road which unfortunately has been encroached”, he said adding that now this was the responsibility of the enforcers of law to vacate the footpaths for pedestrians.
However, he stressed that there is a dire need to educate the pedestrians because even they do not follow the rules while walking.