Unaddressed concerns: ‘Extend elevated bus track to River Ravi’

PML-N local coordinator says government listening.


Our Correspondent August 31, 2012

LAHORE:


Ravi Road residents have demanded that the special bus lane being built for the Metro Bus Service (MBS) be an elevated track rather than ground level road in their area.


The Ravi Road Residents Committee, a collection of committees formed by affectees of the project, demanded changes to the MBS design and an extension of the elevated lane.

Under the current design, the elevated track will run from the New Muslim Town flyover to Qurtaba Chowk.

Addressing a press conference at the Press Club, Syed Mehmoodul Hasan, spokesman for the committee and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) UC-9 coordinator, said that the group would hold protests and move the courts if the government did not address their concerns within three days.

Hasan asked, “The city administration decided to extend the elevated lane from Qurtaba Chwok to the New Muslim Town Bridge due to land acquisition difficulties at Ichhra. Why has it not done the same in the Ravi Road area, which is more densely populated then Ichhra?”

He said the families living in the area would be divided. He said certain families had family members living on both sides of the road. “How can they expect that residents on one side to travel miles before being able to turn to the other side of the road?” He said the division would cause problems to funeral parties.

Citing a figure providing by the Traffic Engineering and Planning Authority (TEPA) to the association, Hasan said the MBS would increase traffic problems for locals since traffic at Azadi Chowk would be stopped 1,500 times a day to allow MBS buses to cross. He said the project would also affect police and Rescue 1122 response times.

He claimed the barriers being installed were ‘fragile’ and would wear out in a few months.

He said property worth millions of rupees was being acquired from people at one-third of the market rate. He said the escalators being installed would be difficult to maintain in the open air. He said no public hearing was conducted for the multibillion-rupee project, which made it illegal.

He said they had tried to meet the chief minister at his tent office a number of times but failed. He said he had asked MPA Khawaja Imran Nazir to forward their concerns to the CM few weeks ago. Nazir had told him that the CM had rejected their appeal and ordered all local PML-N coordinators of the area to try to pacify residents.

He said he had also approached MNA Mian Margoob, who directed them to meet TEPA Director Israr Saeed, who remained unavailable despite several visits. He said they would approach the court and hold peaceful protests if their concerns were not addressed within three days.

PML-N spokesperson Pervez Rasheed told The Express Tribune the displacement of some people in such a project was normal and was not limited to MBS only. Asked why Ichhra residents were facilitated, he said he was not aware about the details of the project.

He said the government would look into the concerns expressed by Ravi Road residents and address them if possible.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2012. 

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