Lady wardens ready to control traffic in Lahore

LAHORE: The City Traffic Police (CTP) Lahore has finally restarted seven-member lady traffic warden motorcycle-patrolling batch to monitor traffic issues and maintain traffic flow in the city of Lahore.

A couple of years ago, Lahore deployed female traffic wardens on road but shortly they were transferred to office because of the obvious issues faced by any woman in Pakistan i.e. harassment and social pressure.

Many men were arrested on account of harassing female wardens but still things were out of control and all lady traffic controllers had to limit themselves to office only.

But in a latest development, seven-member lady traffic warden motorcycle-patrolling batch has been assigned the duties of monitoring traffic issues and maintaining traffic flow in Lahore.

And this time their training has been tough and full-fledged of two months. They have been mechanically trained by Atlas Honda and experts have also taught them to handle any miscreant on road.

On Thursday, the traffic ladies namely Saba Noor, Aroosa, Anna Aziz, Sidra Saleem, Sidra Riaz, Sadia and Farzana debuted, in a special ceremony inaugurated by Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Sohail Chaudhry, their patrol schedule from Liberty Market parking lot to Fawara Chowk.

The female wardens were accompanied by senior traffic officers, and to appreciate them, a huge crowd gathered on both sides of road.

The CTP is training another batch of nine women for same job which will be on roads in two to three months.

Bushra Khalid, Executive Director of Women in Struggle for Empowerment (WISE), thinks it as a great step towards making Pakistan a better place for women.