LAHORE, June 6: The Jinnah Hospital and Doctors Hospital underpasses have been opened to traffic without completing the allied work and remodelling the canal road accordingly.

Unlike the other two-way underpasses, these underpasses have been constructed only on the left side of the canal to facilitate the traffic flow from the University New Campus and the Jinnah Hospital Road to Thokar Niaz Beg.

The road on the university side is narrow and at places broken. It has been widened only near the Jinnah Hospital underpass, making it dangerous to drive at high speed. The underpasses are wider than the road in between and beyond, forcing drivers to slow down after passing through either of the two at high speed.

On both sides of the canal, mounds of earth indicate the incomplete construction work around the underpasses. The bridges over the underpasses have been beautified with plants, flower beds and pots but it would probably require more time to plant trees and level the earth between the road and the adjacent Jauhar Town.

The tilework of underpasses appears to be better than that of The Mall underpass. However, a broken portion of the fortification wall facing the canal indicates that the main focus of construction work has only been the underpass.

The fact that the road on the university side is narrow and unfit for smooth passage has even been felt by Lahore District Nazim Mian Amer Mehmood who urged the chief minister during the inaugural ceremony on Sunday to widen it.

A dirt road, prepared as an alternate route along the boundary wall of the university during construction of these underpasses, is a source of inconvenience for motorists, university people and residents of the colonies ahead, for driving on it generates dust which has even settled on the nearby plants. People hope that the government would either carpet it or plant trees on it to prevent pollution.