ABDULLAH MUGHAL

LAHORE: The newly-widened Canal Bank Road from Dharmpura to Harbanspura is tempting motorists, especially the youth to drive at a very fast speed, causing severe road accidents on daily basis. In addition, absence of traffic wardens on the route also encourage them to violate traffic rules, zigzag driving and changing line and lanes without using indicators.

A survey conducted by Business Recorder observed that commuters, particularly bikers are not abiding by traffic rules, which causes traffic accidents by and large, it was observed.

Rizwan Ahmed, a local resident of Mughalpura said although the authorities concerned have constructed the Canal Road to provide better travel opportunities to the commuters but there is no one to take action against the traffic violators. “People are continuously violating traffic laws, which has put our lives on serious risk,” he cautioned.

Fayaz Gujjar, a local trader at Harbanspura, said that violation of traffic rules have significantly increased after widening of the Canal Road. He claimed that people are losing their loved ones due to traffic accidents. “Few days back, I saw an elderly man going with a kid on his motorbike. Meanwhile, a rashly driven car crushed them and sped away, leaving the kid in a pool of blood,” he added.

“I have not seen any traffic police personnel deployed on the newly-built canal road, especially on Tajpura U-turn. Ground realities are different from those claimed by traffic police officials that they are ensuring road safety rules and maintaining a smooth flow of traffic on this road,” Gujjar said.

Another local, Imran Zahid, said they are observing traffic accidents on almost daily basis and urged the authorities concerned to immediately deploy traffic wardens on the Canal Road. To a query, he said he had not witnessed presence of any traffic warden from Mughalpura to Harbanspura which is a prime space for commuters for racing and over speeding.

When contacted, Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Lahore Rai Ejaz Ahmed did not respond to calls and text messages. However, his Public Relation Officer (PRO) Arif Ali Rana admitted that they have recorded speeding issues on the canal road after its widening. In addition, Rana claimed that a traffic controlling team is working on the road and 25 to 30 fine tickets are being issued to traffic violators on daily basis. Interestingly, he revealed that the duty timing of traffic controlling team ends at 7 pm and after that no warden is present there to control or check traffic violations by the commuters.