People suffer as city grapples with massive gridlocks

Visually-impaired, sub-engineers vow to continue protests till demands are met

LAHORE: The flow of traffic was interrupted due to protests at key points of the city on Thursday by visually-impaired persons and a sub-engineers welfare association.

It is the fourth consecutive day of the agitation by both the protester groups.

Sub-engineers have been sitting outside the Civil Secretariat for their demands, which mainly revolve around the approval of technical allowance. Meanwhile, the visually impaired started their protest at Azadi Chowk and marched towards the Punjab Assembly to Club Chowk.

They demanded the government issue a notification for the permanent status of contractual and daily wage employees from their community and an increased quota in jobs.



An activist of the sub-engineer protesters, Asif Rathore, vowed to protest until their demands were met.

Civil Secretariat Chowk is an important point of the metropolis. The protest led to a blockage on both sides from MAO College to the Civil Secretariat. It also caused congestion at Istanbul Chowk, Jain Mandir Chowk and Church Chowk towards Civil Secretariat.

The flow of traffic was already compromised near Chauburji Chowk due to ongoing sewerage work.

Visually-impaired persons protested outside Club Chowk and it led to congestion on Davis Road. Davis Road converges at Shimla Pahari. Meanwhile, visually-impaired persons started their protest at Azadi Chowk on the first day. They also entered the metro track and blocked traffic. They, later on, moved to Mall Road.

The next day they marched towards their current position ie Club Chowk. The protesters refused to leave the venue until their demands were accepted and a notification was issued in their favour.

Keeping in view the ongoing protests in the metropolis, the City Traffic Police Lahore (CTPL) made special arrangements to ease the flow of traffic. The CTPL deployed extra contingents of the force and also set up diversions to maintain the flow of traffic.

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The visually impaired persons have been continuing protests since 2014. Every few months, they take to the streets. In their first memorable protest in December 2014, the protesters tried to move towards Mall Road where a VVIP movement was expected. Police tried to stop them and allegedly resorted to using force. This few severe criticism and the SHO of the police station concerned, among a few other officials, were suspended.

Since then, they have been on a protest spree. Few of their protests continued for days. They also enjoy the credit of blocking the metro bus service by blocking Kalma Chowk station for a couple of days. They had also staged a protest last month.

Last year in May, they had staged a sit-in at Kalma Chowk metro track which continued for over a week. The service operations were affected and also remained suspended.

A similar sit-in at Kalma Chowk was also observed by the community in October 2017. In January 2016, they also had come on Kalma Chowk metro track for their voices to be heard.