LAHORE:Capital City Police Officer, Lahore, DIG Bilal Siddique Kamyana said on Saturday that encroachments were big hindrance to the smooth flow of traffic and also a security risk which could not be completely eradicated without the cooperation of citizens and business community. Accompanied by Commissioner Lahore Capt (Retd) Muhammad Usman, CCPO Bilal Siddique Kamyana reviewed the traffic load from Bhaati Chowk to Circular Road Chowk. He was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Umar Sher Chatha, SP Traffic Shehzad, Assistant Commissioner City Adnan Rasheed, senior police and district administration officers. All the institutions, individuals and stakeholders would have to play an effective role to make Lahore an encroachments free city. Efforts are being made to build as many parking plazas as possible in the available spaces to avoid parking problems in future. Lahore Police along with district administration and other agencies concerned were mobilized to ensure smooth flow of traffic on roads, reduce traffic load and eliminate encroachments.
The CCPO and Commissioner Lahore started their inspection from the anti encroachment camp set up at Bhaati Chowk. Deputy Commissioner Umar Sher Chatha apprised the CCPO and Commissioner Lahore of the aims and objectives of the anti-encroachment campaign and the actions taken so far to clear the roads from encroachments particularly at Circular Road. The CCPO and Commissioner Lahore inspected traffic flow, encroachments and parking areas at various places including Urdu Bazaar Chowk, Mochi Gate, Delhi Gate Chowk and other congested traffic junctions. Talking to the media, Bilal Siddique Kamyana said that severe traffic congestion and increase in encroachments in densely populated areas was a common problem for all of us.
The business community must keep parking options in mind in the construction of business and commercial plazas. Citizens should abide by traffic rules, avoid one-way violations and over speeding, and prove that they were conscious commuters while on roads. The Lahore police were providing full security to anti-encroachment squads in crackdown against encroachments, he said and added that Lahore Police were close partners of district administration in traffic load management campaign to improve traffic flow. The CCPO hoped that anti-encroachment camps established by the district government at 28 different places in the city would be of great help in the permanent elimination of encroachments. The Lahore Police had been providing full support to the district administration and other related departments in the ongoing campaign against encroachments and cases were being registered against the perpetrators along with heavy fines, CCPO added.