Zoning dispute: Daewoo suspends urban bus service
LDA operation to demolish Daewoo workshop stopped halfway.
LAHORE:
Daewoo City Bus on Tuesday suspended its operation until further notice following the Lahore Development Authority’s demolition of a Daewoo workshop on Ferozepur Road.
Many Daewoo workers took to Ferozepur Road, blocking the road from Kalma Chowk to the Canal and burning tyres for over an hour. The protest led to a massive traffic jam.
As part of the city government’s anti-encroachment drive, LDA’s Estate Management wing took to the Daewoo workshop with heavy machinery in the hopes of demolishing it. The move was resisted and the LDA team managed to knock down the boundary wall and some rooms. The resistance also led to the LDA officers taking off from the site without concluding the operation.
Police tried unsuccessfully to remove the Daewoo workers off the roads and restore the traffic. It was only after long negotiations that protesters came off the street.
After close to four hours of suspension, Daewoo also re-started its inter-city operations but the urban routes were still suspended.
Nauman Khan, director of LDA’s estate management wing, who led the operation could not be reached for his comments. However, an LDA official speaking on condition of anonymity said plot numbers 96 and 96/A used by the Daewoo administration for the workshop were non-commercial plots. He said Daewoo was violating building by-laws by using them for commercial purposes. Also, the official said the workshop had been constructed without planning permission.
He said that the LDA had sealed the workshop many times but the administration had not stopped using it. He said their wing had only decided to bulldoze the workshop after serving several notices.
Daewoo Express general manager (operations) Munawar Saeed denied receipt of any notice by the LDA. He said they had been using the plots for the last six years. “How can an international firm operate without fulfilling the legalities?” he said.
Saeed said that the workshop provided routine maintenance and mechanical support to the buses running on the urban routes on a daily basis. He said with its demolition City Bus operations had come to a halt. He said inter-city bus operations were reinstated as the buses running on that route could be catered to at workshops located in other cities. He said the workshop’s routine and mechanical maintenance facilities had been severely damaged by LDA’s team.
Daewoo management has requested the chief minster to immediately re-instate the workshop so that buses can resume operations on city routes, he said.
Arshad Ghaffar, a passenger heading to Multan for a wedding, said that the passengers were told to vacate the bus at the eleventh hour. as “They said their staff was on strike.” He said he was taken aback at this unusual announcement as he had never heard of a Daewoo strike.
Ghaffar said he thought of taking another bus but was held back due to the traffic jam. He feared that he might miss the ceremony due to the 10 pm closure rules for wedding halls.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2011.
Daewoo City Bus on Tuesday suspended its operation until further notice following the Lahore Development Authority’s demolition of a Daewoo workshop on Ferozepur Road.
Many Daewoo workers took to Ferozepur Road, blocking the road from Kalma Chowk to the Canal and burning tyres for over an hour. The protest led to a massive traffic jam.
As part of the city government’s anti-encroachment drive, LDA’s Estate Management wing took to the Daewoo workshop with heavy machinery in the hopes of demolishing it. The move was resisted and the LDA team managed to knock down the boundary wall and some rooms. The resistance also led to the LDA officers taking off from the site without concluding the operation.
Police tried unsuccessfully to remove the Daewoo workers off the roads and restore the traffic. It was only after long negotiations that protesters came off the street.
After close to four hours of suspension, Daewoo also re-started its inter-city operations but the urban routes were still suspended.
Nauman Khan, director of LDA’s estate management wing, who led the operation could not be reached for his comments. However, an LDA official speaking on condition of anonymity said plot numbers 96 and 96/A used by the Daewoo administration for the workshop were non-commercial plots. He said Daewoo was violating building by-laws by using them for commercial purposes. Also, the official said the workshop had been constructed without planning permission.
He said that the LDA had sealed the workshop many times but the administration had not stopped using it. He said their wing had only decided to bulldoze the workshop after serving several notices.
Daewoo Express general manager (operations) Munawar Saeed denied receipt of any notice by the LDA. He said they had been using the plots for the last six years. “How can an international firm operate without fulfilling the legalities?” he said.
Saeed said that the workshop provided routine maintenance and mechanical support to the buses running on the urban routes on a daily basis. He said with its demolition City Bus operations had come to a halt. He said inter-city bus operations were reinstated as the buses running on that route could be catered to at workshops located in other cities. He said the workshop’s routine and mechanical maintenance facilities had been severely damaged by LDA’s team.
Daewoo management has requested the chief minster to immediately re-instate the workshop so that buses can resume operations on city routes, he said.
Arshad Ghaffar, a passenger heading to Multan for a wedding, said that the passengers were told to vacate the bus at the eleventh hour. as “They said their staff was on strike.” He said he was taken aback at this unusual announcement as he had never heard of a Daewoo strike.
Ghaffar said he thought of taking another bus but was held back due to the traffic jam. He feared that he might miss the ceremony due to the 10 pm closure rules for wedding halls.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2011.