Urban development: Plan to limit movement of carts withheld

City government had designated five business points <br /> for vendors.

LAHORE: Two months after taking a census of vendors’ carts in the city to limit their movement to designated areas, the city government has quietly abandoned the programme to focus on other “important” projects, The Express Tribune has learnt.

In April, the district administration had counted 3,171 carts – 2,600 of them were hand carts and the remaining were animal-driven. National identity card numbers and thumb impressions of vendors were also obtained during the survey. Each cart was allotted a number to allow tracking.

The government had designated five business points for the cart vendors. They were at Tariq Shaheed Road (China Scheme) in Shalimar Town, Lake Road in Data Ganj Bakhsh Town, Lal Pul in Aziz Bhatti Town, Kareem Block in Mustafa Town and Jallo Mor in Wagha Town.

Babar Bashir, the city government’s senior administrative officer, said the focus had shifted to other campaigns, including eradication of polio and control of dengue.

“Municipal officials at all nine towns are currently working on these programmes,” he said.

When asked why the survey had been carried out if the intervention was not to be pursued, Bashir said that the data would be used ‘soon’ to manage the carts’ movement.

A town official said that the plan had been put on hold as there was no force available for enforcement at town level. He said less than 10 per cent of the listed carts operated on the designated places.

“The remaining continue to move everywhere on city roads,” he said requesting anonymity.

“Cart vendors say they earn more if they do business while on the move than if they remain in any of the five designated areas.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2014.