LAHORE: Some 1,500 policemen and 950 traffic wardens will be charged with maintaining security and traffic flow at the three-day annual Tableeghi Ijtema that starts on Thursday.
Sadar Division Superintendent of Police (SP) Zeeshan Asghar told The Express Tribune that under the security plan, 1,500 policemen would be deployed in three eight-hour shifts every day. “In case there is an emergency and the required personnel are not available, we will have to depute the security force in two 12-hour shifts,” he added.
He said that he had asked the Civil Defence Department for walkthrough gates and additional barricades to place at the venue so that no person could enter the Ijtema unchecked.
Chief Traffic Officer Sayyed Ahmed Mubeen said that 950 wardens would help maintain the flow of traffic in the city during the event. They would be supervised by three SPs, 10 DSPs and 36 inspectors, he added.
He said the traffic police would distribute pamphlets to help the participants reach the venue.
Special parking-stands would be set up where more than 20,000 vehicles could be parked.
No one would be allowed to park their vehicle outside the parking lots, he said.
Mubeen said the traffic police had chalked out special exit and entry routes for emergency situations. A traffic police camp with a wireless control room would monitor traffic.
He said that participants should call the Traffic Help Line at 042-1915 with any questions.
The motorway police and city traffic police together came up with a traffic plan for Tableegh participants coming from other cities by car, he said. Vehicles coming via GT Road from Gujranwala would be diverted to the Motorway from the Kala Shah Kaku Interchange to Thokar Niaz Beg for onward travel to Raiwind. Vehicles coming from Sheikhupura would be diverted to Thokar Niaz Baig via the Sheikkhupura Interchange. Vehicles from Dosako Chowk, Sheikhupura Road, would be diverted to Thokar via Al Saeed Chowk and the Faizpur Interchange, he said.
Vehicles from Sherakot, instead of going to Thokar through Yateem Khana Chowk, would also be asked to go via the Motorway. Vehicles from Okara would be diverted through the Manga Mandi Bypass. In case of heavy traffic, they would be routed to the Ijtema venue through Sundar Adda on Multan Road rather than through Manga Rohi Nulla.
Vehicles from Kasur would have access to the parking areas near Barra Oil Mills through Laliani, Suay Aasal Road, and Jodho railway crossing, Mubeen said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2010.
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