LAHORE: While the government seems to be focusing on making nine major roads as model ones with the clearance of all kinds of encroachments and resolving other issues, it is ignoring Lahore`s other roads that require immediate attention and major anti-encroachment operations from time to time to ease mobility of the public at large and ensure the smooth flow of traffic.

The roads seeking urgent attention include Barki Road, Madina Road (Township), Multan Road (various stretches), Karim Block Road (Iqbal Town), Aiwan-i-Adl Road (lower mall) and others.

The situation is worsening as those creating encroachments are not only causing inconvenience to the public but also ruining the city`s aesthetics andarchitecture besides causing severe traffic and environmental issues.

`Around three years ago, a government team had conducted a major operation on this road and cleared it of major encroachments. But later, no one came todate,encouragingshopkeeperstocreate encroachments again,` said Amjad from a locality linking Barki Road in an interview with Dawn on Tuesday.

`Shopkeepers have almost encroached shoulders of the road,` he said and urged the city district administration and the Lahore Metropolitan Corporation to also include Barki Road in the list of roads planned to be converted into model roads.

Fayyaz, another resident, said that some time ago, the residents had approached the Lahore district administration to get the road cleared of all kinds of encroachments by the MCL teams led by the assistant commissioner.`But no one bothered to even visit the road despite the promise,` he criticised.

`Therefore, we request the government to direct the Lahore administration and the MCL to launch antiencroachment operations from time to time on this road,` he demanded.

On the other hand, the situation related to Madina Road (Township) seems very critical, as no one seems to dare to even visit this area after February 2014 when a major anti-encroachment operation was launched in this area, and it finally turned into a religious on-road fight between the government teams and the shopkeepers, clerics, etc., due to the falling of a street-gate inscribed with the Quranic verses during the operation.

`You can call Madina Road the most dangerous and critical one among all the city roads of Lahore, as various antiencroachment operations not only failed badly but also caused scuffles amongthe officials and the shopkeepers, loss of property, injuring people, and originating religious and sectarian issues, explained Ikram, a resident of a Township street linking Madina Road.

He said that in February 2014, an operation was also launched, which was failed by the shopkeepers and clerics. The incident triggered a day-long protest, and the protesters set various trucks and machinery brought there by the government team for operation on fire. `The officers also reportedly fled from the scene after the protesters came in front of them to thrash them,` he recalled. Ikram said the encroachments have narrowed the road and even made people unable to move on foot. The traffic, according to him, remains choked here most of the time.

Aslam, a resident of a locality near Aiwan-e-Adal Road (The Mall), complained about increasing encroachments by the people, including lawyers.

`A 200 to 300-meter-long stretch of this road remains choked with traffic most of the time on a daily basis due to massive encroachment in the form of a huge on-road parking lot created by the lawyers,` he said.

`But no one bothered to even think about this encroachment that has now become a permanent feature of this road,` he added.

Chief Town Planner of the LDA Shakil Ahmad said the LDA is restricted to launching operations in its building-controlled area alone, and Madina Road falls within its limits.

`We will also launch operations on Madina Road,` he maintained. He said he only had eight to ten assistant directors for a huge LDA controlled area.

`Give me the same number of ADs as the number of police stations in our controlled area, and we will deliver results,` he said.

The MCL chief metropolitan officer was not available for comment.

SPORT COMPLEX: C o m m i s s i o n e r Muhammad Ali Randhawa visited various under-construction sports complexes in the city and reviewed the development works. He visited sports complexes in China Scheme, Islamia Ground, and Minar-i-Pakistan.

`The under-construction sports complexes of the LDA should be opened in phases. Three to four complexes must be opened in the first phase,` he said while directing the LDA team.

He also sought completion of construction work on sports complexes as soon as possible.

Earlier, he was briefed that facilities at sports complexes included a gym, swimming pool, children`s play area, jogging track, cafeteria, indoor sports, badminton, tennis court, snooker and squash court.