LAHORE: Lahore motorists who have ignored their traffic challans are about to find the consequences following them into government offices. Under a sweeping new directive issued on Wednesday, citizens with unpaid traffic fines will be denied a range of services at the Excise Department and at Police Khidmat Markaz facilities.
The decision comes as part of a wider traffic management overhaul ordered on the directions of the Chief Minister of Punjab. According to the circular, Head of Traffic Punjab Muhammad Waqas Nazir has written to Chief Traffic Officers, District Police Officers and District Traffic Officers across the province, instructing them to ensure strict implementation of a detailed set of measures.
The enforcement mechanism is the operative detail. Lists of citizens who have not paid their traffic challans are to be forwarded to the Excise Department and to district police. For Lahore — the province’s largest vehicle registration base and the city with the densest Safe City camera coverage — this converts a previously toothless penalty into a real administrative obstacle at the point where a citizen needs a token, a transfer or a certificate.
Patrolling traffic officers have also been directed to act not only on violations they witness directly but on identifications generated by Safe City cameras, closing a gap between automated detection and field enforcement.
The circular singles out two Lahore chokepoints for special arrangements which include the entry and exit routes at Shahdara and at Thokar Niaz Baig. Anyone who has sat through the morning crawl at either will recognise why. Shahdara carries the northern flow from Gujranwala and Sheikhupura; Thokar Niaz Baig is the western funnel from Multan Road and the Raiwind belt into the city.
In an infrastructure decision with long-term consequences for the southern corridor, Ferozepur Road is to be developed as a model road on the pattern already applied to Mall Road, Canal Road, Jail Road and Main Boulevard. Signals are to be installed on Raiwind Road and Pine Avenue, while electric pedestrian crossing signals are to be placed on Mall Road and Jail Road — a direct response to pedestrian risk on two of the city’s fastest arterial stretches.
Lane discipline is also being enforced in urban areas, with the extreme left lane formally allocated to motorcycles and rickshaws.
The directive orders strict action against helmet law violations and indiscriminate legal action against overloaded transport. Beggars are to be removed from roads and intersections in accordance with the law.
On the environmental side — timely, with Punjab’s pre-smog season approaching — tractor-trolleys carrying sand, debris and similar material must now be covered, and advisories are to be issued to trolley owners and relevant bodies. Ahead of the coming sugarcane season, overloaded cane tractor-trolleys will not be permitted on the roads at all.
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