- Traffic jams halted people’s movement all day
LAHORE: The 24-hour shutdown of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations on Saturday caused mayhem for the Lahoris, as massive traffic jams were observed on the major roads of the city.
The students were affected the most by the shutdown of the CNG filling stations, as they could not reach their schools and colleges in time. The All Pakistan CNG Stations Association on Friday had announced that all the CNG stations in the city would remain closed for 24 hours – from Friday midnight to Saturday midnight – owing to the shortage of natural gas in the country. It was observed that several cars had broken down on the roads as they had run out of gas. Furthermore, the unavailability of fuel from the filling stations created havoc among people and resulted in massive traffic jams.
The traffic on The Mall, Queens Road, Jail Road, Ferozepur Road and the Canal Road remained choked up for hours. “I have an important meeting to attend and am supposed to reach my office at 10:30am, but I am already half an hour late due to this traffic jam,” said Imran Ahmad, an information technology professional. He was stuck in a traffic jam on the Canal Road, which was caused by the breakdown of a car ahead. “The association should have thought about the trickle-down effects of these sudden shutdowns before taking such decisions,” he added.
Shoaib, a student of class 7, said, “I am running late for my mid-term examination as our car has run out of gas,” he said.
A group of students in a school van, which also ran out of gas, said their teachers would not let them in the classes, as they were way behind their school timings. The parents of students also suffered, as their children could not reach home in time. The worst traffic jams took place in the afternoon and students remained stuck in traffic for more than two hours.
Shaheena of Shahjamal area and the mother of an eight-year-old school-going boy, Zain, said she got worried when her child did not reach home in time after school. She said she phoned the driver of the school van, who told her that they were stuck in a traffic jam. She said she was relieved when Zain reached home at 3pm.
‘It is sheer incompetence on the part of the government that such sudden shutdowns of gas stations are taking place. First it was load shedding and now it is natural gas. For how long will these crises continue?” she said. nadia usman