LAHORE: A citizen reportedly set his motorbike on fire to protest the misbehaviour of a traffic warden at Bhatta Chowk here on Tuesday.

Qaisar Ali alleged that he was driving on the extreme left side of the road and was wearing a helmet at the time when Warden Zubair stopped him and demanded licence and registration documents.

Talking to the media, Qaisar said he showed the warden the fine ticket he had already been issued by another warden who had imposed on him a heavy fine of Rs2,200 ‘unnecessarily’ and seized his driving licence.

Ignoring his argument, Warden Zubair insisted on him to produce the documents he was demanding to issue the ticket and then snatched the motorbike’s keys from him.

Qaisar said the traffic official tried to take him to the police station along with his two-wheeler to lodge a case against him for not producing registration documents.

At this, Qaisar said, he set his motorbike on fire in protest against the behaviour of the warden, demanding the chief minister to take notice of the matter to bring relief to the people from the middle-income people using motorcycles.

He alleged the wardens were imposing heavy fines unnecessarily to ‘collect revenue’ for the police department.

Some witnesses said several people had also gathered there in support of the motorcyclist. They lodged a protest against the warden, saying he was habitually imposing unnecessary fines on the motorcyclists in the area.

The shopkeepers of the area alleged that the wardens were targeting the bike riders just to fulfill ‘daily quota’ of challans to please their senior officers.

The situation remained tense at Bhatta Chowk due to the demonstration of the locals who had blocked the road for traffic and demanded action against Warden Zubair.

Meanwhile, the traffic police issued a statement, declaring Qaisar responsible for the situation saying he had misbehaved with the warden when he stopped him to produce registration documents of his motorcycle. The police further stated the citizen and his two accomplices had been handed over to the police for action for thrashing the warden and setting his bike on fire.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2023