December 05, 2006	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 13, 1427

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LAHORE, Dec 4: Intermittent rain, absence of traffic police and impatient drivers kept vehicular traffic on major city roads choked on Monday. At some points roads dug up by civic agencies and builders added to the traffic mess, which was described by motorists as worst in recent past.

Like rain, traffic jams were also intermittent. A busy thoroughfare clear in the morning was seen clogged at noon. Motorists found muddles at busy thoroughfares even at 9am with traffic signals off and policemen missing due to rain and chill.

The worst hit roads were The Mall from Anarkali to Alhamra, Jail Road, Multan Road , Wahdat Road, Canal Road, M M Alam Road, Jinnah Flyover, Ferozpur Road from Mozang to Muslim Town, Bund Road from Saggian to Sherakot, Samanabad Main Road, Mor Samanabad, Iqbal Town main boulevard from Scheme Mor to Bekhewal (the road is under construction) and Garden Town road from Jinnah Hospital to Barkat Matket.

Similarly, Niazi Chowk, Azadi Chowk, Circular Road, Liberty Chowk, Chowk Yateem Khana, Chairing Cross, Kalma Chowk, Main Market Chowk, Mini Market and Hussain Chowk also witnessed traffic jams throughout the day.

Police were seen only on `important’ intersections, manning traffic by switching off signals. Drivers who lost patient added to the traffic mess.

“We are witnessing a total collapse of traffic system in the city,” said Yasir Alam, a business development manager whose car remained stuck in the Multan Chungi chaos.

He said even on sunny days traffic officials were seen active in penalizing reckless drivers instead of regulating traffic.

Mansoor Ali, another agitated motorist, said broken and dug-up roads and encroachments had added to the chaos on city roads.

TRAINS DELAYED: Widespread rains badly affected rail traffic on Monday, delaying the arrival of major trains at the Lahore railway station by three to six hours.

The Awam Express (13-up) could reach Lahore at 11am instead of its scheduled time of 7.45am, the Karakorum Express (41-up) arrived at 3.30pm instead of 8.30am, the Allama Iqbal Express (9-up) at 6.45pm instead of 9.30am while the Karachi Express (15-up) and the Tezgam (7-up) had not arrived till the filing of this report.

Freight and container trains were also moving way behind their schedule.

RAIN: Like other parts of the country, the provincial metropolis received rain on Monday which added to the chill, reports APP.

The rain which started on Sunday night continued intermittently till 7pm. At 8pm on Sunday a rather heavy and steady spell began which was on till 11pm.

According to weather pundits, a westerly wave over Kashmir was likely to cause widespread rains in Rawalpindi and Gujranwala divisions and scattered rains in Sargodha, Lahore and Faisalabad divisions.

Light rain was also forecast for Bahawalpur, Multan and D G Khan divisions.

Maximum temperature in the city was recorded at 17 Celsius and minimum 13 while humidity in the morning was recorded at 83 per cent and in the evening 88 per cent.