Snarl-ups continue as city reels under protests

Traffic flow already compromised near Chauburji Chowk due to ongoing sewerage work

LAHORE: The visually impaired persons and sub-engineers welfare association continued their respective protests on the fifth consecutive day.

The sub-engineers had been sitting outside the Civil Secretariat continued sitting outside the secretariat for four days. On Friday, they also staged a rally in favour of their demands. The visually impaired persons continued their protest at Azadi Chowk and marched towards the Punjab Assembly to Club Chowk. The visually impaired persons demanded of the government to issue notification for regularisation of contractual and the daily wage employees from their community and more job quota.

Both the communities vowed not to abandon the protests until their demands were met.

Civil Secretariat Chowk is an important point of the city. The protests led to snarl-up 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.

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

The visually impaired persons were sitting outside Club Chowk. It had led to the congestion on Davis Road. The Davis Road converges at Shimla Pahari. The protest was started at Azadi Chowk on the first day. They also entered the metro track and blocked the traffic. They, later on, moved to the Mall Road.

The next day they marched towards their current position ie Club Chowk. The protesters vowed not to leave the venue until their demands were accepted and a notification was issued in their favour.

A high-level meeting at the secretariat reportedly accepted three demands of the visually impaired persons. However, an official notification was yet to be issued in this regard.

The City Traffic Police Lahore (CTPL) made special arrangements to ease traffic congestion. Extra contingents of the CTPL were deployed and diversions set up to maintain the flow of traffic.

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

They had also suspended the metro bus service by blocking Kalma Chowk station for a couple of days. They had also staged a protest last month, October 2019. Last year in May, they had staged a sit-in at Kalma Chowk metro track continuing for over a week. The service operations were affected and remained suspended also.

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.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2019.