THE constituencies of NA-120 and PP-139, PP-140, once considered the home constituencies of the Sharifs, are facing apathy of their elected representatives and the Punjab government in the face of poor sanitation, dilapidated road infrastructure and unavailability of clean drinking water.
The residents, comprising a majority of the PML-N supporters, who had voted for the party in the Feb 18 polls, demand their representatives fulfil their pledges in letter and spirit. The residents, mostly from the neglected but major parts of the constituency, have also appealed the not-so-newly-elected Punjab administration to especially focus the issue of sanitation, which is posing serious threats of epidemics’ outbreak in the area and threatening the population.
NA-120, Lahore III, covers very important areas of the provincial capital, including the Data Sahab Shrine and its surrounding areas, Bilal Gunj, the Mohni Road, Kasurpura, Kareem Park, Anarkali, the Lower Mall, the Davis Road, the Temple Road, the Bedon Road, some parts of Gawalmandi, Shafiqabad, Qila Gujjer Singh, Riwaz Garden, Islampura, Chohan Park, Raj Garh, Sandah Kalan, Sanda Khurd, Mozang and Shadman. The union councils, falling under the constituency, are 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73 (some part), 74, 77 (some part), 78, 79, 80, 81 (major part), 82, 83, 85 (some part), 86 and 94. The provincial seats falling under the NA constituency are: PP-139 and 140. The constituency was made from the parts of two constituencies including NA 95 and NA 96.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has won from most of the areas falling under present NA 120 and previous NA 95. The areas that were separated from pervious NA 95 include Sant Nagar, the Temple Road, Sanda, the Davis Road, etc. Nawaz has won from these areas consecutively for five times, including 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993 and 1997.
The other areas, which have been separated from previous NA-96 include Bilal Gunj, Shafiqabad, Anarkali, Lohari, Kasurpura and Kareem Park. The major political personality in this area has been Shahbaz Sharif who remained victorious in the constituency in 1990, 1993 and 1997 polls. In this way, this constituency has witnessed the victory of former Premier Nawaz Sharif and the Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif.
In the Feb 18 polls, luck once again favoured the PML-N and the party candidate Bilal Yasin won with a huge margin of more than 40, 000 votes over PPP stalwart Jehangir Badr. PML-N also won both the provincial seats with Khawaja Imran Nazir from PP-139 and Ajasam Sharif from PP-140. About 69 per cent of the registered voters of the constituency voted for the PML-N whereas the PPP got 25 per cent PML-Q 4 per cent and other parties got rest of the 2 per cent.
The constituency can also be divided into two parts. The first part may include the developed areas such as the Temple Road, Mozong and the Davis Road where people do not have much to complain about apart from regular traffic mess and encroachments. The second part may consists the areas, which are still a picture of neglect and people are fighting hard against various unsolved problems like broken roads, extremely shabby conditions of streets and people living on drains without any safety measure.
A survey, conducted by The News, revealed that people living in the areas, falling under PP-139, were most critical of their rulers for their unsolved issues and absence of the elected members from the constituency.
Ali Sher, an elderly person in the area of the Main Ravi Road, said that despite making repeated complaints to the parliamentarians and Nazims, no one came to repair the road, which was causing serious problems for the commuters. He said just a day ago, a horse cart almost turned turtle and due to the deep pothole in the road but no one paid attention.
“Water accumulates on this broken road for weeks but no one cares,” said the old man.
The people in the area situated near the Kacha Ravi Road said the filth gathered on the roads in the locality was seldom removed but even then there was no one to address the issues.
“Yes, Bilal Yasin did visit the area but our MPA Imran Nazir had never been seen so far after the polls,” said a rickshaw driver. Local people admit that the government launched a fumigation drive a couple of days ago but it did not work as the drain present in the locality was still uncovered and mosquito-breeding was continued.
Muhammed Riaz, a resident of Kareem Park, said he had voted for the PML-N and supported the party after its leaders’ return, however, since the elections, the elected representatives never turned up. Standing outside a public park known as Goal Bagh, he said most of the park had become a dumping ground due to the negligence of the authorities concerned.
Shafiqabad and the areas situated around the Bund Road are in a terrible state and people had a lot of complaints for their elected MPs provided they visited the areas.
Afzal, a resident of the area, said the streets were turning into dumping sites. He said most of the streets of the locality were not repaired and turned into stagnant ponds after rain. They also said that water was not fit for drinking but people had no other option.
A group of locals further said no fumigation or spray drives were carried out in the constituency to prevent outbreaks of malaria or dengue and the elected members were yet to visit the areas.
Ajasam Sharif, the MPA from PP-140, was the only elected representative of the constituency who was available for comments, whereas MNA Bilal Yasin and MPA from PP-139 Khawaja Imran Nazir couldn’t be contacted.
Ajasam, while talking to The News, said the major problems faced in his constituency were those of encroachments and traffic mess. He said the problems needed to be solved but it would take some time. He said he had discussed the issue with the Punjab chief minister who was also trying to resolve the said issues. On the question of his contact with the people of his constituency, he said he always remained in his constituency and was paying attention to address the issue faced by the people.
