Pakistan - Lahore Bachao

Since the PML-N government came to power, there has been a flurry of infrastructural development in Lahore. From the metro bus and FerozepurRoad to the Canal Bank and RaiwindRoad, all the major arteries of Lahore, which were mostly in a decent state of repair, have all been uprooted and rebuilt to include an unnecessary number of flyovers and underpasses. However, the roads that are largely in disrepair like the Grand Trunk (GT) Road and those connecting small towns in rural Punjab are still being ignored. The government has now turned its attention to Jail Road-Main Gulberg, which is an efficient and well-maintained route. The Lahore BachaoTehreek (LBT) have taken this case to the courts and procured a stay order on the further construction on Jail Road. The organisation staged a well-attended proteston Sunday against the continued presence of construction vehicles and machinery at Jail Road. The LBT is not against the development of infrastructure in general; rather they only oppose rebuilding projects that deplete the already endangered green belts of Lahore and are an unnecessary waste of resources. Part of the road has already been broken and at this point, it is too late to halt construction altogether. The road will either have to be rebuilt and restored to the way it was, or the government will have to be allowed to continue with its development plan. Jail Road is now caught in a state of limbo between the will of civil society and the government. Although the appropriate time to protest a construction project is before the construction begins to take place, the incumbent government does not weigh public opinion before beginning these projects. In fact, they begin the projects without even issuing sufficient notice to the public about road blockages and traffic diversions. These sluggish construction projects linger on for months, causing massive inconvenience to the commuting public and causing unnecessary traffic delays.

The demolitiont and reconstruction of functional roads is a wasteful utilisation of the sparse financial resources of Pakistan. As members of the LBT pointed out, this money would be better spent on providing health, education, energy and other basic utilities to the Pakistani public, which are seriously lacking under the status quo. A leading member of LBT commented that these such projects only serve seven percent of the public because the other 93percent do not own motor vehicles. These projects are selective and only serve an elite class of people, neglecting low and middle income communities and rural Punjab. In the long run, the incumbent Punjab government will alienate itssupporters if it continues to disregard the public interest in the utilisation of Pakistan’s resources.