LAHORE: All intercity bus terminals and the railway station in the provincial capital attracted a huge rush of passengers as most non-Lahorite residents returned to their native towns to celebrate Eid with their families.

“Today (Saturday) was the last working day before Eid holidays starting on Monday (tomorrow). I wanted to go on Friday, but couldn’t get leave. I am leaving on Saturday,” Sarfraz said while trying to get ticket to Multan at city bus terminal near Yateem Khana. “The ticket price has increased considerably -- almost double during the last couple of years,” said Sarfraz who works in a government department in Lahore.

The provincial metropolis has hundreds of thousands of people from other parts of Punjab working here in both public and private sectors and they return to their hometowns ahead of both Eids and other major events.

Following the government’s announcement of a four-day Eid holiday from May 2 to 5 (Monday to Thursday), most people succeeded in going back to their native towns on Friday. However, the remaining ones returned to their towns on Saturday.

A majority of passengers seeking tickets to their native places at various bus terminals were either government employees or worked for private companies, factories etc.

“I work in a factory as manager here in Lahore. I am going back to Bhakkar,” said Kashif after he got a ticket at a private company bus terminal near Babu Sabu. “Will come back on Friday after spending Eid holidays with my family,” he added.

He said some of his colleagues also were going to their native towns (Rawalpindi, Attock and Muzaffargarh) from this terminal.

A staffer at a bus terminal told Dawn that all buses plying on various intercity routes originating from Lahore were departing packed after the passengers thronged the bus terminals. “It’s really become difficult for us to handle such a huge number of passengers waiting for their turn at the ticket counters for a long time,” he said.

CLEANLINESS: The Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) field force comprising thousands of sanitary workers has been deployed to carry out cleanliness-related activities in shifts to keep the city clean on a daily basis, especially during Eid holidays.

“There is no backlog of waste collection. But we have intensified the cleanliness activities under a zero-tolerance policy,” an official source told Dawn on Saturday.

According to an internal LWMC report shared with the senior officials concerned, the company collected, transferred and dumped thousands of tonnes of waste within the last 24 hours. The teams lifted tonnes of waste from various parts of Allama Iqbal Town, Gulberg Town, Nishtar Town and Samanabad Town, Aziz Bhatti Town, Data Ganj Bakhsh Town, Ravi Town, Shalimar Town, Wagah Town and Saggian and dumped it at Lakhudair landfill site.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2022