|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
   |
traffic MOOD
STREET Town
Talk 14th
August Tandoori
nights traffic Accident-prone 17 dangerous locations that need immediate traffic planning and management By Arshad Shafiq Nizami Lahore is popular for its parks, picnic spots, eateries and other entertainment and recreational activities, but at the same time it is notorious for its traffic accidents, congestion and chaos. According to Lahore Emergency Service (Rescue 1122), more
than 82 accidents take place daily on the city roads; about four accidents
per hour and one accident after every 16 minutes. Over 94 people fall victim
to these accidents daily, 115 people in every one hundred accidents and four
in every one hour. Among these victims over 63 per cent people are between 16
to 35 years of age. Minor injuries aside, Rescue 1122 has categorised the
injures into spinal, head, leg and multiple fractures totalling 6242 during
last six months. Leg fractures stand on top with 2421 and are 39 per cent of
the total injuries. There are 17 dangerous locations in the city where accidents have become the order of the day. Out of these, 10 sites are highly dangerous and vulnerable which include Garhi Shahu Chowk, Chamra Mandi Chowk, Circular Road, Lorry Adda, Batti Chowk, Shahdra Morr, Kalma Chowk on Ferozepur Road, Canal Road, Multan Road and Akbar Chowk (Township). Over 50 per cent accidents happen in these areas; 43 per cent accidents take place because of motorcycles, 30 per cent because of cars and 18 per cent due to motorcycle-rickshaws and auto-rickshaws. In some areas such as Garhi Shahu, Chamra Mandi, Circular Road and Lorry Adda, the involvement ratio of motorcycle-rickshaws and auto-rickshaws increases. Commenting on a collision of a bus, car and rickshaw on
July 30 in which five people were injured at Garhi Shahu Chowk, a duty warden
told TNS that the main reason for frequent accidents on the Chowk is a narrow
road which leads to Queen Mary College. "When vehicles descend from
Garhi Shahu railway bridge, they don't find enough room to pass through
smoothly, causing traffic jam, the situation gets from bad to worse when
traffic has to be controlled manually," the warden said. Pedestrians are always vulnerable while crossing the Chamra Mandi Chowk as it is too wide to cross easily, particularly in the absence of traffic wardens and pedestrian signals. Secondly, there is a great rush of motorcycle-rickshaws which drop hundreds of people from Ghorey Shah, Baharat Nagar, Taizab Ahata, Kachupura, Chah Miran, Faiz Bagh and Shadbagh at the Chowk who cross the road on foot to approach railway overhead bridge to reach Janubi Lahore (Southern City). While crossing the road, they often collide with unruly rickshaws and vans, necessitating construction of pedestrian overhead bridge to avert accidents. Circular Road is a highly congested one as traffic from four directions including Do Moria Pull, Delhi Darwaza, Minar-i-Pakistan and railway station converge on this road, putting the traffic at a snail's pace. Slow moving and overloaded bull and push carts and tongas coming from Akbari Mandi and Delhi Darwaza create chaotic situation as the traffic is operated manually in the absence of traffic signal. Encroachments and wrong parking on Circular Road and its connecting roads are to blame for accidents. Canal Road underpasses have some technical flaws which cause accidents on the road. These underpasses are not in a single lane, some are on the left and some on the right causing great difficulty for motorists. Secondly, when the vehicles come out of these underpasses,
they find the road wide which becomes narrow after a few yards, causing a
brief traffic jam and accidents as it becomes hard for a motorist to
immediately slow the fast moving vehicle. To avoid accidents on the Canal
Road, which normally take place due to these underpasses, TEPA has fixed
signboards on these underpasses to indicate motorists. Talking to TNS, a Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) official said on condition of anonymity, "There are 10 underpasses on Canal Road, out of these only three were constructed by TEPA Jail Road underpass, Ferozepur Road underpass and Shalimar underpass while Campus underpass was constructed by LDA Urban Development Wing and the remaining underpasses were built by Works & Communication Department. Kalma Chowk on Ferozepur Road is considered mind-boggling, especially for those who are not familiar with the area as there are five lanes ahead of the Chowk and sometimes it becomes difficult for a motorist to pick the exact lane to turn right, left or to go straight. Traffic on Bund Road is badly hit by bus terminals like
Niazi Adda and Rahber Transport. There remains a great rush of passengers on
the road who sometimes fall victim to uncontrolled vehicles, especially
buses. TEPA Project Manager Faisal Khan told TNS that there were a very few pedestrian signals on the city roads. Mall Road, Sheikh Zaid Hospital, Regal Chowk and Walton Road have pedestrian signals, he said, adding the City traffic is being controlled through four kinds of signals Loop Detector System, Timer System, Scat System and Automatic System. The authorities concerned need to come up with a state-of-the-art technology to check rising road accidents. The city, particularly its northern areas, needs wide and encroachment-free roads. Auto and motorcycle-rickshaws are stated to be the main reasons for accidents in northern parts of Lahore. There is a dire need to check unfit vehicles, underage and overage driving on roads. Motorcycle rickshaws are seen driven by underage people and buses by overage drivers but traffic police hardly takes action against them.
Once upon a hockey By Zaid Nasir Remember hockey? A game played by agile shorts fitted with legs and a torso. The objective is to carry a wooden stick and hit the ball in the net while avoiding what looks like three sets of mattresses. Hitting the ball with the stick is preferred but you can hit anything as long as the referee isn't watching. Hockey, our national sport, is a great game. But when
was the last time you heard about it? Cricket fans you can find
aplenty. But where are the hockey fans? My quest started (and finished) with my college. After careful deliberation, it turns out that half of my college body consists of douche bags who think the only thing worth scoring are two chicks. That leaves me with the other half to focus on. One third of these are cricket enthusiasts. They know the names of all our current and past team players and would start talking about the players in other teams because their knowledge in this area knows no bounds. Statistics are followed and everyone has an opinion about what happened or what will happen in our cricket affairs. Then they take the opportunity to flaunt their skills at our cricket pitch which, sadly, has more potholes than the road to Kandahar. The other one third are football fanatics. You must be wondering how this hardcore cricket hungry youth suddenly started following football. Ask the girls. Their sudden interest in cute professional footballers has forced boys who couldn't even spell the word "dribble" to wear the sports kit and follow the latest updates in the world of football. On the field, it takes them approximately ten minutes to realize they are passing the ball to the referee. This leaves me with the remaining one third. So I asked them some questions. When was the last time you saw a hockey match? Do you know who our national team players are? Do you even remember the rules of the game? Any idea what we have won up till now in hockey? Would you want to play if you got the chance? Can I copy your notes? And well, so on. While our nation has adapted cricket to be played in the streets under the name 'tapeball cricket', there is no such thing for hockey. You need a ground, or an Astroturf to play the latter, something not as readily available as say, an asphalt or an empty field which would suffice for football or tapeball cricket. Also, it's a tough game. Those wooden sticks they play with? The players don't fall on the ground because their shoelaces were tied together; it really hurts when you get struck by it. And the ball? If it hits you in the chest, you better start counting your age in dog years. Protection? That's for wussies, or goalkeepers. You only get to wear shin guards. This is perhaps why most parents don't allow their children to play hockey. No parent would want their offspring to adopt the grunge look at the age of 9. Schools are not helping either. Not many private institutions in Lahore have enough space for sports activities, let alone a hockey ground. Land in the city is just too costly. That leaves public schools, but lack of proper facilities are hindering the skills of the students who wish to play further. Cricket gets its sponsors. But when was the last time hockey was supported in the commercial of our favourite beverages? More people in our country will watch the Indian Premier League than the Hockey World Cup or any other hockey tournament our country is participating in. Sadly, we don't have a proper infrastructure to promote hockey domestically. Lack of funds and mismanagement is not helping either. But what saddens me is the apathetic approach of people towards this great game. My friends go crazy over English football clubs. They know too well how England fares in FIFA, winning only one world cup more than four decades ago. We have won four Hockey World Cups, the only country to do so. And we have bagged three gold, three silver and two bronze Olympic medals. Yes that's right, Olympics. This may be in our yesteryears, but it is a record we should all know and be proud of. But is hockey really fading away from our society? Sadly, it seems so. You may make a movie on the only child of a family wanting to play cricket instead of becoming an engineer, containing the crucial three hour dancing extravaganza. But for a child wanting to play hockey, the story would be cut short.
*Play: 'Noises Off' at Alhamra Arts Council, The Mall, Hall #1 from Aug 5-9. Gates will close at 6:30 pm. *Manorunjun Mela (music festival), a fundraiser for the
flood victims of Khyber Pukhtoonkhawa at Sukh Chan Wellness Club today. *Star Screams Entertainment presents 'Rock N Roll Fiesta Gig', a charity show with the renowned underground bands of town. Venue: Battle Field, New Airport Road tomorrow at 6:00 pm. *Play: 'Noises Off' at Alhamra, The Mall till Mon, Aug 9. Time: 6:00 pm. Gate Closes at 6:30 pm (sharp). *French Cine Club at Alliance Francaise de Lahore every second Wednesday evening at 5:30 pm. *German Cine Club at Annemarie-Schimmel-Haus every Wednesday at 6:00 pm. *Free Science Film Show every Friday at 2:30 pm at National Museum of Science and Technology.
Fun for some Floods and Ramzan seem to have dampened the spirit of Independence Day celebrations The Independence Day is close by and stalls stocked with flags, buntings, badges and stickers can be seen at all major chowks of the city. But these are not the only stalls close to 14th August. Alongside can be seen flood relief camps set up by various religious and political organisations. Like previous years, there would be concerts on this
occasion. This time, too, there are concerts but to help the flood victims
back at Pakhtoonkhawa. Floods have created an emergency throughout the
country. We are fortunate to be living safely in Lahore. In the event of little meaningful activity in the city on this national holiday, youth paint faces, hoist flags on their rooftops, decorate open spaces with buntings and roam around in the city on motorbikes with flags. The worst they do on this day is motorcycle racing and one-wheeling, putting their own and others life at risk. Umair Aftab, a student of MBA, loves to go out on 14th
August with his friends to watch bike racing. He says, "The most
prominent bike racing starts from new airport at 3:00am in the morning and
goes on till 10 am. Only Honda 125 bikes are allowed in this race. Another
race is held from Siddiq Trade Centre to Liberty Market in which only cars
and heavy bikes are allowed to participate. Girls not only come to watch this
race in their own cars, they also challenge the boys. The scene is awesome
and I don't want to miss this event. People bet on the racers. Some bet their
bikes on race and host breakfast for all friends in upmarket restaurant. The
electrifying Mall Road does not attract any special race but bikers do take a
round of this road with their dog horn, which is fun." Mohammad Faizan who has a stall of flags and buntings for Independence Day says, "Last year we sold about 60-65 percent flags, the remaining didn't sell. Little buntings were more popular. Most flags which sold last year were for motorbikes and for roof tops. The 1.50 x 3 feet flag sold for Rs40 last year, now it is for Rs90 and the 3 x 4 feet flag which sold for Rs90 last year, is for Rs115 this time. But presently there is no sale. Buyers are not turning up because of inflation. We have invested in this seasonal business and don't seem to making any profit the way things are going." Mohmmad Zeeshan who runs a garments shop in Panorama says, "Trend of green pant shirt has gone with time. People are coming to our shop and taking regular jeans and shirts for 14th August celebration. Some shops have installed green clothes for customers but there is no hustle bustle in bazaars. People are not shopping these days, may be because Ramzan is close at hand and they would rather shop for Eid which is not far away. We had good sale on this occasion last year. A rough graph shows that last year we had 25 percent profit from sales. This year it is just the opposite as Ramzan is near and people feel the need to help those in need of help in flood-hit areas. A famous sportswear here in Lahore says, "It's not the right time for us to go for shopping and hang out with families. Its time to help the flood affected people." Before the Independence Day, there is National Tree Plantation Day on which the Forest Department plans to plant 312000 trees. Forest Conservation Officer Iftikhar Qureshi said, "The department has planted trees on 40 km long stretch on Lahore Kasur Road from Chungi Amar Saddhu to Ganda Singh. The Forest department has also planted trees in a 20-25 feet wide median from Daroghawala to Wahga border." -- SA
At Baking Virsa kababs and cheese bread have to be ordered a day before and the offer is one of its kind By Salman Ali As the sun sets, activity starts at BBQ corners in the
city. The aroma of chicken tikkas and kababs being cooked on charcoal creates
a special atmosphere anywhere. Ordinary kababs take 15-20 minutes wait
normally. Amid these kabab outlets there is one that serves on a day's notice
but it's the only one of its kind. Kababs here are prepared on tandoor
(traditional oven) and are called tandoori kabab. You may find a lot of seekh kabab vendors scattered all across Lahore. The renowned ones are located at Lakshmi, Anarkali and in particular Gawalmandi. Today, kabab is like a staple in a Lahori's cuisine. There are many types of kababs and all have different tastes: seekh kabab, malai kabab, cheese kabab, beef kabab, mutton kabab, nargisi kabab and reshmi kabab. 'Baking Virsa', a kabab shop located at Railway Road, Gowalmandi has introduced a new kabab that is prepared in tandoor. The kabab they make is ten times bigger than an ordinary seekh kabab. The tandoori kabab is served with special cheese bread. The taste is enhanced when it is served with soda water or coke with black salt. Masood Saeed, the owner of the shop says, "There are many ways of preparing kababs and many new recipes have been created by chefs around the world. Everyone doesn't make it to the TV but most of the chefs have recognition in a certain clientele and are content with it. Baking Virsa has been serving food lovers for ten years. "The specialty of our chefs is the unique recipe they make kababs with. Nowhere else kababs are being made in tandoor. We simply put minced meat on the whole skewer and then put it into the tandoor for maximum five minutes and it's ready to be served. We don't prepare beaf kabab. The second delicious item we offer is 'cheese bread'. Our style of making 'cheese bread' is also unique. It contains ingredients like fennel seeds, water and conola oil. The best thing about it is that it can be eaten within six months. "We have select customers which come here with families but mostly we have customers who place orders and take away our delicacies. The difference between us and other restaurants is that our shop does not deliver the same day. It does not cater to walk-in customers. One has to place an order a day before for kabab and cheese bread. Different highly rated restaurants and hotels of Lahore have a contract with us. Many high profile journalists and judges come to our shop for eating," he says. "People are against our shop and some shop keepers too because they believe that we are selling our items at extremely high price. Different style, unique way of baking and tasty food is the main reason for our popularity and high price," he claims. "The food is worth every bite and the cheese bread is delicious enough to take home for breakfast the next morning with a cup of coffee," says Sheikh Mansoor Advocate, a regular customer. The sight of making tandoori kabab and cheese bread makes one's mouth water and stomach growl, none of the multinational food chains can provide a substitute for this tandoori kabab. A plus point of Baking Virsa is that they have come up with a new recipe of making kababs without oil as people are becoming more and more health conscious. "Nothing can beat them; the food is excellent. However, the prices are extremely high. Baking Virsa needs to lower its rates so that more people can afford its delicacies," says Mansoor. Aftab Anjum a doctor by profession says, "Once I got a chance to taste the tandoori kabab at Baking Virsa with my friends. It was the same kabab which we all can eat at very less price in every corner of Lahore. They should lower their price so that more people can enjoy their tandoori kababs and cheese bread. One kabab serves two and is for Rs580 and bread for Rs120.
|
|
