LAHORE, Nov 25: Police continued to harass motorists on the eve of Eid in a bid to extort ‘Eidi’ but failed to stop the youth doing a wheelie on roads in different parts of the city.

The police at pickets intensified checking of vehicles, especially of motorcyclists, apparently to evade any possible untoward incident on the occasion of Eid.

Traffic police constables at some pickets reportedly openly demanded Eidi from the motorcyclists.

Reports suggest that police harass those who resist to pay money at pickets on various pretexts, one of them is unauthorized stopping at the pickets for quite some time.

A motorcyclist is reportedly stopped at four pickets a day. The way the police deal with people at pickets is also questioned by the courts but to no avail.

“The way the policemen frisk the people and check documents at the pickets make the motorists feel like criminals,” motorcyclist Ilyas Khan told Dawn at a picket at the Centre Point in Gulberg on Tuesday.

It is pertinent to mention that the provincial police chief has banned setting up of pickets but ironically his subordinates paid no heed to his order. They claim that the pickets are the only solution to maintain law and order.

Police patrol also reportedly set up pickets instead of taking round and rounding up motorcyclists found doing a wheelie and using pressure horns to tease peaceful citizens.

Youth between 18 and 25 years of age had reportedly died while doing a wheelie on the busy city roads but neither police nor the City District Government has taken any special measures to stop them.

The pickets are set up on Ferozepur Road, Gulberg’s Main Boulevard, Jail Road, New Garden Town, Queens Road, Faisal Town, Model Town, Model Town Link Road, Wahdat Road, Allama Iqbal Town, Thokhar Niaz Baig, Punjab University New Campus, Lakshami Chowk, Circular Road, Mughalpura and Baghbanpura. The pickets at link roads and streets are no exceptions.