Broken signboards spoil roads decoration

LAHORE City government, though spent millions of rupees on lightening up and decorating the roads leading to Gaddafi Stadium, has failed in replacing the broken signboards installed on the underpasses on the Canal Bank Road, the main artery on which the visiting Sri Lankan team travelled to reach the sporting venue.

 

The main signboards of several underpasses were broken while road safety signs were also missing especially at Waris Shah Underpass and Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai underpass on the Canal Road. It is pertinent to mention here that the signboards of these underpasses were broken for the past many months but no one paid attention despite the fact that a large number of senior officials of government, city administration and public representatives travel on this road on daily basis.

Commissioner Lahore Division, Abdullah Khan Sumbal who is the overall in-charge of the city administration while talking with the scribe said no boards are broken and only minor faults existed, which will be repaired. The Commissioner also said that maintenance of underpasses is the responsibility of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) while LDA’s spokesman said it was not LDA’s domain and City Administration is supposed to maintain underpasses.

On the other hand, the city once again went into the grip of cricket frenzy and cricket lovers were seen reaching Gaddafi Stadium much before the time resulting in rush on roads and traffic jams at different points of the provincial metropolis.

Broken signboards of the underpasses have undermined the beautification arrangements taken by the district government in a bid to present a good look of the city to the visiting guests as well as the international community, said Khurram Shah, a road user. He said this also translated the minds of the rulers that they didn’t believe in strengthening road safety measures to protect citizen’s lives.

The city has earlier witnessed the same enthusiasm for cricket recently and the previous events provided non-stop entertainment to the citizens besides broadcasting a soft image of the country, which finally resulted in return of international cricket in local grounds.

Strict security arrangements were taken to and citizens especially youths and cricket lovers start reaching Gaddafi stadium before time. Lahore’s administration had also decorated city roads with colourful banners thanking the visiting team and players for coming to Lahore to play the match.

Green belts along the Canal Bank Road were decorated with white bright lights while canal was decorated with colourful lights, which is presenting a very beautiful sight to the passersby and road users. Colourful banners, posters and steamers were witnessed on The Mall, Canal Bank Road, Jail Road, Ferozepur Road and many other areas.

Several city restaurants/hotels also installed big screens on their premises to air live broadcast of the match and made advance bookings on high rates from the citizens while some cinemas also announced similar shows.

Eateries across the city have also announced special offers for their customers during the festivity, said Ch Shafique, Secretary General of Lahore Restaurant Association (LRA) while talking with The News. He said this event will surely revive international cricket in the country but we should not make this festivity colourless by shutting down nearby restaurants/hotels.” He suggested the government to double check the security of restaurants/hotels in and around the venue but keep them working.

Following the match, police blocked several roads and kept the citizens stood in smoggy weather for long time especially on The Mall, Canal Bank Road, Jail Road and Ferozepur Road. “If cricket is returning back, I never mind standing on road for hours,” said Nabeel, a student standing on his bike near Jinnah Hospital. He said security is the need of the hour and today’s pain will give us a long lasting reward in shape of international cricket.

Social media and broadcast media have also become part of the cricket frenzy as every talk show, every news package, every hourly news headline was centered around the upcoming mega event. Special transmissions with special packages were also showed while Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media sites were also full of cricket related posts.

The Punjab government also launched free shuttle service to facilitate the cricket lovers from selected spots to the stadium while traffic police advertised complete route map of the venue along with designated parking facilities. Lord Mayor Lahore, Commissioner Lahore, Deputy Commissioner Lahore and other senior officials also paid repeated visits to the venue as well as in the city to finalise security, traffic and parking facilities.