Lahoris are all set to own their city on Eid as migrants from other cities and countries who work in the metropolis have left for their hometowns to celebrate Eid.
The government servants have already gone back to their native towns as government announced five holidays starting from Friday.
The private job holders too went back to their families to celebrate Eid just one day before this most awaited festival of the day.
An employee of private solar company, Usman Ali who belongs from Gujrat told Pakistan Today that he was a bachelor and could go back even at the eleventh hour. He was seeking a ticket at Badami Bagh bus stand in the city.
An official of Lahore Transport Company Waqar Younis told Pakistan Today that the passengers of long routes had gone back a day earlier and on Friday, the people belonging to nearer places like Gujranwala, Gujraat, Faisalabaad, Okara were going.
Irfaan Ali, a passenger for Jhang who works in Pepsi, told this scribe that he had only two holidays for Eid but he was going to celebrate these two days with his family.
SHOPPING:
In the meanwhile, a large number of people of varying ages were witnessed out in the markers for shopping.
They were buying the Eid goods while simultaneously complaining about price hike.
Agha Ahad, a private company employee who was doing shopping with two of his children at Mall Road told Pakistan Today that “prices are extremely high on this Eid”. He shared with this scribe that the shoes prices are more than 100 times high comparing with the prices of two or three years back. He was of the view that Eid is meant only for the well-to-do people in this age of high inflation.
Muhammad Hussain, who runs a shop for children garments on Mall Road, shared his sentiments lamenting the anti-business policies of the government, signaling towards the newly-introduced 0.3 percent Withholding Tax on banking transactions.
Shoaib Ahmad, an employee of Lahore Parking Company (LPC) told this scribe that their business was in full swing. He told that since last 10 days the average cars he park every day were more than 500.
There are 20 employees of LPC from Masjid-e Shuhada to Alfalah Building on The Mall giving their services to the people on Eid.
HOSPITAL ALERTS:
Moreover, the Punjab government has issued a security alert to hospitals to augment security arrangements in a bid to avoid any untoward incident.
Mayo Hospital Medical Superintendent (MS) Dr Amjad Shehzaad told Pakistan Today that there are about 4,000 employees working in Mayo Hospital and half of them will be on duty on Eid. The remaining half will perform their duty on second day of Eid to treat any emergency, Dr Shehzaad said.
