LAHORE: The traffic police seemed unprepared to handle a Muharram event at Lal Pull that caused a massive traffic jam on Mughalpura bridge on Wednesday afternoon, keeping people, including schoolchildren, stranded for hours.

Four wardens had been deputed on the road – two in front of barricades at the mouth of the Mughalpura underpass to block traffic from Dharampura to Jallo Park, and the other to regulate traffic on the bridge.

The stranded vehicles included ambulances and vans carrying schoolchildren back home.

One of the wardens at the underpass said the road had been blocked because of a Muharram event. He admitted the traffic police had been informed of the event earlier, but failed to explain why they had not planned alternate routes.

The muddle was created when traffic coming from The Mall could not move ahead because of the barricades at the underpass. Those on the left side of the road, which leads to the Mughalpura bridge, were also stuck because of traffic coming either from Shalamar Link Road or Saddar. And there was no chance of going back or in any other direction.

The traffic jam on Canal Bank roads affected other areas as people, particularly motorcyclists, started entering any artery they could find to escape the mess, clogging streets in areas along the canal for hours.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2017