LAHORE: Nauman’s jogging routine got disturbed for four days when the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) held its rally at the Greater Iqbal Park last month. Since then, he has been trying to adjust his routine but the track is damaged and the park uglier.

“I go to the park daily for jogging but after the rally by the PTI, the park is not the same. It gives a deserted look,” he points to the potholes in the lush green lawns.

“As if the PTI rally was not enough, another rally by the Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on Sunday damaged the park further.”

Nauman is not alone who is complaining about the damage to the scenic park due to political rallies there. Scores of people, contacted by this reporter at the park, demanded that the chief justice take notice of the situation and order political parties to avoid holding rallies here.

Visitors said besides damaging various portions of the park, the participants of the rallies also made the area a filth depot.

“It looks that there is no one from the government to stop such rallies,” Afzal, another visitor, said.

Official sources in the city administration say that both rallies were held without any permission from the government.

An official said the top political leadership did not follow the law of the land.

“If we stop them by force, everyone knows that what will happen,” an administrative official told Dawn. He said the parties even did not think that the park was developed with huge public money.

The Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) earlier decided not to do repair works at the park after the April 29 PTI rally. PHA officials said they thought there would be no benefit of getting such a huge repair work done immediately keeping in view another rally announced for May 13.

The Greater Iqbal Park was completed with billions.

After the PTI’s rally, the PHA estimated the damage at Rs2.3 million to horticulture, walkways, walk-through gates, fountains and tiles.

“We’ve asked the PTI to compensate the losses but they haven’t paid the bill. Similarly, we’re preparing estimate for the damage caused by the MMA rally. Lets see if they pay the bill or not,” a PHA official explained.

He said the PHA also planned to put up the issue before its board of directors to discuss the ways to save the park from such events.

PHA Director General Mian Shakil Ahmad says park’s repair work would soon begin. “The main loss occurred to the park was due to rally of the PTI. Though the MMA rally also damaged some horticulture work, it was minor,” he added.

SOP: The Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) on Monday issued the standard operating procedure (SOP) for its tube well operations in Ramazan, according to a spokesperson for the agency.

In eight Wasa divisions, tube wells will start from 2am. Similarly, before Aftar, the officials would operate tube wells. In case of load shedding, officials will keep operating the tube wells on generators.

Also, the Lahore Waste Management Company in coordination with the Municipal Cooperation also issued the SOP for cleanliness in 31 Ramazan Bazaars.

Under the SOP, 220 sanitary workers will work in bazaars in two shifts while mechanical sweeping and washing of surrounding areas and collection of waste will be done. Up to 93 waste containers and 138 waste bins have been placed in bazaars.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2018