LAHORE – Blocking traffic at rush hours has become a routine matter in the provincial metropolis. Like every day traffic was blocked in front of Lahore Press Club on Wednesday afternoon by a handful of protesters creating traffic jam on nearby Egerton Road, Davis Road, Durand Road and Abbot Road affecting hundreds of thousands of motorists, motorbike riders and public transport.
The area is home to many educational institutions including Queen Mary College and School, Convent of Jesus and Mary School, Ayesha Academy, Don Basco High School, St Andrew’s School, Muslim League High School and Greenland School. Approximately eight to 10,000 students study in these institutions. The schools close down at almost the same time that is 1:30 pm or 2:00 pm. The junior section classes end at 1:30 and the senior section and college classes end at 2:00 pm. Also in the vicinity is the business district that houses offices of travel agencies and other businesses. If one goes to Lahore Press Club at say 1 pm there is usually no activity seen. At 1:30 pm exactly different groups start converging outside the Lahore Press Club. Small groups of protesters block the road forcefully and start chanting slogans in favour of their demands.
The City District Government of Lahore, which is responsible for ensuring smooth running of everyday affairs of the citizens, has never bothered to look into the matter. The interesting phenomenon is the presence of police at every protest. When asked as to why don’t they urge protesters to stage protest at the roadside and not block the traffic the policemen replied the strict orders were not to hinder any protest. Apart from the nuisance to the general public one should also consider the millions of rupees that are wasted during such traffic jams with the usage of extra fuel. On Wednesday, the protest was organized by students of Children Hospital School of Allied Health Sciences at around 1:40 pm. These students are doing BSc Honours and degree of doctor of physio therapy. The protesters were demanding provision of laptop computers under the CMs scheme to help deserving students. Talking to this scribe one of the protesters Aziz Subhani said it was injustice that students of their school were not being considered for lap tops. “We have knocked at every door but to no avail. Our Principal Dr Riffat Javed went to Punjab Civil Secretariat to plead our case. The Dean of our school Dr Tahir Masood has been very cooperative. When he saw that our problem was not being solved he allowed us to stage a protest.
“We have also submitted an application to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. But there has been no action. We were left with no option but to stage protest,” Subhani said.
The concerns of the students are genuine but the city administration should ensure that there should be no allowing blockade of roads. It is high time the government in view of the heavy traffic load in the area around Lahore Press Club should ban holding of protests during the afternoon when the schools and colleges close.