TEPA now plans to build a bus terminal at the Logia Gardens, which is inside the Government College University.
LAHORE: Recently, in cooperation with Turkey, the chief minister of Punjab attempted to solve the transport problem that the people of Lahore face by introducing the Rapid Mass Transit Bus Service in the city. This service will initially run from Kahna to Shahdara on Ferozepur Road and will pass the Mozang Chungi, the Punjab Secretariat, the district courts and the Data Durbar, with conveniently located stops or terminals.
It has now been reported that the Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA) has planned to build a bus terminal at the Logia Gardens, which is inside the Government College University (GCU). The TEPA has taken this decision without considering the historical background of this great place of learning. This institute, which dates back to around 150 years, has produced great scholars, scientists, engineers, generals and sportsmen, including Allama Iqbal, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam and Dr Samar Mubarakmand. Having a bus terminal built inside this great institution will greatly compromise its beauty and historical value. It will obtain the look of an ordinary bus stand where hundreds of people would embark and disembark at all hours of the day, thereby disturbing the peace of students and faculty members.
The chief minister is requested to consider the historical aspect of the institution and look for an alternative place for the terminal. It could be located either around Nasir Bagh or at the far end of the district courts. Anyone who has an association with the GCU would never approve of this move.
Muhammad Azhar Khwaja
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2012.
