Public space: LePark accuses traffic police of selective action

Traffic police chief says acting on court orders to prohibit parking on roads.


Rameez Khan January 14, 2013
Traffic police also forced LePark to shut down the parking stands at the NADRA office on PECO Road and the EFU building on Jail Road. PHOTO: FILE

LAHORE: The traffic police has taken action against two parking stands and shut down two others, all four of them recently taken over by the Lahore Parking Company, or LePark, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Traffic police officials say that they are acting in light of Lahore High Court orders to shut down parking stands on the roads that are a hindrance to traffic. But LePark officials allege that the police are acting selectively against them and the action is a result of their refusal to bribe traffic wardens.

Three days ago, Gulberg police arrested the supervisor of the parking area at Pace on Main Boulevard on the basis of a complaint by the traffic police for establishing a parking area on the road. LePark had only taken over the parking stand 10 days ago, and upon doing so, had reduced the amount of road space they used, said officials of the company.

They claimed that the district coordination officer had approved the parking plan a few years ago.



The officials said that the private contractors operating the parking stand previously had used even more space on the road, but the traffic police had not taken any action against them. Prior to the arrest of the supervisor, there had been no correspondence between the traffic police and LePark officials, they added.

On the same day, the officials said, traffic police forced LePark to halve its parking area at Neela Gumbad. Here, too, private contractors had previously been taking up twice that space on the road, but traffic police had not acted against them, they said.

Traffic police also forced LePark to shut down the parking stands at the NADRA office on PECO Road and the EFU building on Jail Road.

LePark officials claimed that the private contractors had been bribing the traffic police, while they had refused to do so, which was why they were being targeted. “Other than a handful, all the parking areas in the city are established on the road, so why pick only these ones?” asked one official.

Chief Traffic Officer Captain (retired) Sohail Chaudhry denied that LePark was being targeted. “We cannot allow illegal parking on the roads that creates hurdles for traffic. Our action is in the light of a High Court ruling prohibiting any parking on roads. These parking stands were causing traffic problems,” he said.

He said that the parking areas at Hafeez Centre (not managed by LePark) and Pace had exceeded their limits. He said that issues regarding parking there would be resolved in a meeting with DCO Noorul Amin Mengal and LePark Managing Director Mian Shakeel. They are Chaudhry’s batch mates in the civil services.

Fasihuddin, the public relations officer for LePark, said that traffic police officials were being unfair. He said that there were several illegal parking stands in the city, but the traffic police was only taking action against LePark-controlled stands.

He said that the traffic police should not have lodged an FIR against the supervisor of the Pace parking area since he was operating a parking plan approved by the DCO. He said that he was hopeful the matter would be resolved soon. He said that the company respected the court’s decisions.

LePark also recently took over the parking areas at Moon Market in Iqbal Town, Eden Heights on Jail Road, the Punjab Medical Complex on Jail Road, Cardex Hospital on Jail Road, and Nida Market on Empress Road.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14th, 2013.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ