Rally ‘not too bad’ for traffic

Many motorists stay off roads, small jams at start and end of rally.

LAHORE:

The Muslim League-Nawaz rally on Friday created fewer traffic problems than expected, as fewer people took to the roads in anticipation of heavy delays, said traffic police.

The traffic police helpline said that around 500 complaint calls were received, most of them concerning The Mall and Circular Road, which was about twice the daily average, but still less than on problem days when the helpline has received up to 750 complaints.

They said that the biggest jams occurred at the end of the rally as the participants left the city. There were delays at the city’s exits towards Babu Sabu, Saggian, New Ravi Road and Shahdara. Some 2,250 wardens were deployed in double shifts around the city to enforce diversions.

Parts of the Lower Mall, Data Darbar Road, Out Fall Road from Saggian to the Katchery, Bund Road, Circular Road and The Mall were closed for an hour around noon for security checks. Police snipers took up positions on rooftops while horse-mounted policemen and security personnel in plain clothes surveyed the areas.

The most out-of-town participants in the rally entered the city via Saggian bypass. Parking spaces were established at all five entrances to the rally, but these were eventually filled and people started parking along the sides of the road.

Nasir Awan, who drove from Sheikhupura to Lahore on Friday, said that he got stuck in a traffic jam at around noon. He said that he and his family had been forced to travel to Lahore because of an emergency. He said that the journey took around five hours when it normally takes around one.

Jamshed Alwi, who lives near the DIG (operations) office in Lahore, complained that he was not allowed to go home when the barricades were put up around noon. “The police kept insisting that I park my bike at Data Darbar,” he said. “In the morning they told me to shut my shop. On my way back, they wouldn’t let me go past the barricades on motorbike. What law stops me taking my own bike into my house?”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2011.