LAHORE, Sept 15: Long queues of vehicles on jam-packed thoroughfares and considerable increase in issuing fine tickets by wardens on Mondays have become hallmark of the city’s traffic scene, Dawn learned.

For motorists, first working day of the week appears to be nerve-shaking, especially in the morning and the afternoon, and traffic wardens present in large numbers on roads, crossings, signals and outside educational institutions seem unable to control and streamline the flow, but they are prompt in issuing fine tickets comparatively on a larger scale than the remaining days of the week.

A visit to different roads and areas of the city on Monday presented the same picture and motorists were seen haplessly waiting for their turn to reach their destinations by travelling on heaving arteries of the metropolitan.

The Canal Road, which has no less than eight underpasses, also witnessed huge traffic congestion, especially on its tube sections between Punjab University, FC College and Jail Road underpasses.

Traffic either remained blocked or progressed at snail’s pace on Ferozpur Road, Gulberg’s Main Boulevard, The Mall, Queen’s Road, Lake Road, Lytton Road, Multan Road, Chauburji crossing, Allama Iqbal Road, Garhi Shahoo crossing, Zahoor Elahi Road, Davis Road, Shimla Pahari roundabout, Abbot Road and McLeod Road and Lakshami Chowk.

On the other hand, wardens were seen issuing tickets to motorists on a large number, particularly motorcyclists, rather than educating them to prevent them from committing further traffic violations.

“It appears that wardens have been assigned a target of issuing fine tickets, especially on Monday. They gather in a group of two or three, stop motorists, inform them about the violation and issue tickets hastily,” a trader Muhammad Qasim said.He said he had been issued fine tickets twice in three days for not using helmet and broken backlight.

Another motorist, Ahsaan Rauf of Faisal Town, said a warden stopped him at Shadman Chowk and told him that he was being issued a fine ticket against absence of indicators on the scooter he was riding on.

The warden had to feel embarrassment when he came to know that a scooter had no indicators.

“This is rubbish on the part of traffic police who lack basic knowledge and find justifications about issuing fine tickets,” he said.

The wardens’ deployment plan issued by the chief traffic officer outside education institutions in the morning and the noon also failed as haphazardly parking of vehicles at closing timings was seen outside many schools and colleges, impeding the smooth flow of traffic.

One such traffic mess was witnessed outside a private college on Canal Road in Muslim Town. A warden, deployed outside the college, failed to convince the drivers to park their vehicles in an organised manner on the service lane.

When contacted, Chief Traffic Officer Husain Habib Imtiaz said that no traffic congestion occurred in the city on Monday except the one that was witnessed on Shimla Pahari roundabout where a demonstration was taken out.