Fort Road Food Street: Rights of admission reserved

Anarkali Food Street owners think the new venture will fail because of the ‘environment’.

LAHORE:

Lahoris were left largely disappointed after admission rights to the new Food Street, inaugurated on Saturday, were reserved only for people who had been issued special passes.

Banners had been displayed around the city for about a week about the Food Street opening. However, food enthusiasts’ excitement was short lived. When they reached Fort Road they were told to come on Sunday. Even residents of the area were not pleased by the protocol accorded to MNA Hamza Shahbaz who inaugurated the project. About three dozen police vehicles patrolled the narrow streets in Taxali Gate throughout the day.

Kamran Waheed, a Walton resident who had come to Fort Road with his family, said that they had come to try the food, only to be told that the day had been reserved for VIPs. “What kind of a leader is afraid of families with children?” he said, adding that the government should not have advertised that the food street would be open to the public on January 21.

Usman Ali, a businessman who had come from Defence, said that he was “ashamed” of leaders who desired such protocol. “I drove for one hour… for this? Hamza was given protocol for a president,” he said, adding, “Every good initiative is turned into a political stunt by the government.”

The new food street has received a lukewarm response from its competitor, the Anarkali Food Street.

Syed Sajid Hussain, who owns New Bukhara Restaurant in Anarkali said that the city government was ignoring the Anarkali food street. “No attention is being paid to the cleanliness of this street,” he said. Hussain said that he had bought a shop on Fort Road to move his business there but had later changed his mind because of “the area’s environment”.

“Families will never be comfortable going to a food street next to the red light area,” said Haji Wajid Ali, the owner of Waris Tikkah in Anarkali.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2012.