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Number of vehicles that get stuck in traffic on a daily basis crosses 3 million
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Wardens given freehand to use all traffic codes against commuters
LAHORE: With traffic jams becoming a routine across the provincial metropolis, all plans prepared by the City Traffic Police Lahore (CTPL) for a smooth circulation on the roads, appear to be futile, Pakistan Today has observed.
While it takes the commuters hours to travel minutes-long distances, on the other hand, the Lahore chief traffic officer (CTO) has given the traffic wardens a freehand to use all the traffic codes available in their challan books.
According to sources, the number of vehicles that get stuck on the roads of the city on a daily basis has topped 3.5 million. Owing to the numbers that are increasing every day, the traffic wardens have failed to control the flow of traffic and now seem to be helpless. Sources further told that while the traffic wardens are not provided with any professional training, their incompetence has also led to a significant rise in the number of road accidents as well.
Around 500 individuals in Lahore alone and 10,000 in Pakistan lose their lives to traffic mishaps annually, sources added while revealing that the traffic wardens have been tasked to book at least 20 people every day. To accomplish this task, the wardens continue to issue loads of traffic challans to the people, they said.
Speaking to Pakistan Today, a resident of Lahore said the traffic jams are a rather predictable ordeal for the people and has limited the everyday commute of nearly every person. “The jams are not only a torture, but also have negative effects on the psychological health of many,” he added.
He also demanded from the traffic police high-ups to take a notice of the challans being issued by the wardens without any reasons and said the challans have left the victims of inflation even more distressed.
“The traffic wardens should focus more on the flow of traffic than on booking the commuters, only then can the rising numbers of road accidents and jams be controlled,” he said further while adding that the authorities should establish a separate department to monitor the performance of the wardens.
Lahore CTO Rai Ijaz was tried to be reached for a comment, but he was unavailable.
