LAHORE, Aug 11: The city is witnessing boom in pre-Independence Day festivities, though rains prevented the early take off.

Makeshift shops along roadsides selling buntings, flags, masks, caps, badges and a great deal of other celebration stuff have appeared in various city areas as children are rushing to make purchases.

Flags are being hoisted on rooftops and terraces, while some youths are also erecting these on their two-wheelers.

Some people have made small investment to get a maximum benefit out of this seasonal but well-rewarding business. The cost of badges ranges between Rs5 and Rs20, while a mask may cost Rs100 and a flag Rs180.

On Gunpat Road, the mainstay of the festivity items, the business has reached its peak where, unlike other parts of the city, stalls have been in place since the third week of July.

Pervez, a stall owner, said most of them had invested Rs500,000 to Rs1 million for a 25-day business. According to him, five people are required to run a stall effectively.

He claims that each one of them has paid Rs30,000 as rent to the owner of the shop before which they have set up their business.

“We are also paying bribe to police to preempt any disturbance,” said a vendor on the request of anonymity.

However, customers are complaining about the poor quality of the stuff. “The paper used in the making of the buntings is no better than that of a toilet paper,” remarked a customer.

Life-size portraits of the Pakistan Movement leaders and government high-ups have been erected on various intersections. Each of it costs not less than Rs40,000.

Youths are having their own plans and way of celebrations by removing silencers from their motorbikes.

However, some people are going to celebrate the event in a simple way. Akhtar, a shopkeeper in Township area, says they have planned to celebrate the Independence Day with utmost simplicity as America and Israel are wreaking havoc on the world.

A teacher said, “Humans in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan are being massacred therefore we should observe the event in the most serene manner.”

Pleading to find sober ways for observing national days, schoolteacher Tayyaba said she would light candles to celebrate the Independence Day. It is not necessary to make people tense by doing a wheelie in the name of celebration, she said.

Also she was making arrangements for the distribution of sweets on Aug 14.

Like Tayyaba many other women are unhappy with the ways the youth celebrate the Independence Day. “Do celebrate but protect yourself and the people around you,” they emphasise.—MANSOOR ABBASI