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       LAHORE: Civil society activists staged a protest demonstration in front of the Lahore Press Club against the Lahore Yellow Line project on Saturday.

       Led by Dr Ajaz Anwar of the Lahore Conservation Society, the participants raised slogans against the project, and warned the Punjab government against launching the project as it involved chopping down a huge number of trees along the canal.

       The protesters were carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans such as “Nehr Bacahao (save the canal)” and “Yellow Line Project Unacceptable” among others. They vowed to mobilise the public at large in the coming days to exert pressure on the government to withdraw its decision in the best public interest.

       “We will resist this anti-people, anti-environment project. It will be a disaster for Lahore’s green corridor if the government succeeds in executing this project,” warned Dr Anwar while talking to Dawn after the protest. “The government must review its decision of launching this ‘useless’ project for the sake of Lahorites since it is not a public-friendly scheme,” he said, adding that the Canal Road already had no space for pedestrians.

       Protesters vow to intensify campaign against the project

       In a statement issued by the activists, they expressed deep concerns over the proposed Rs80 billion Yellow Line Mass Transit Project that ‘threatened the ecological, historical, and civic integrity of Lahore’.

       They claimed the project, proposed to run from Thokar Niaz Beg to Harbanspura on the 24km long stretch of the Canal Road, was being advanced without proper environmental clearance, public consultation, or alignment with the Lahore’s Master Plan 2050.

       The activists argued that the canal, a legally protected green corridor and historic urban heritage park, played a vital role in maintaining ecological balance. They said any intrusion into this sensitive area, including for infrastructure, risked long-term environmental and cultural damage.

       “Lahore is facing an ‘Environmental and Health Emergency’. It ranks among the most polluted cities globally, with dangerously high air pollution, plummeting groundwater levels, unmanaged solid waste, and unchecked loss of green cover,” read the statement.

       It said the canal and its green belts were legally protected and any intervention would be in direct violation of the Lahore Canal Urban Heritage Park Act 2013. The Lahore High Court had already restricted development along the canal, it added.

       The civil society proposed to expand the metrobus, introduce e-buses and CNG fleets, and develop real-time systems across the city at a fraction of the cost. Urban forests, canal-side ecological buffers, and waste segregation systems could mitigate climate impacts and protect biodiversity, they added.

       “As Lahore needs Public Transport Reform, we need an integrated and sustainable strategic mobility framework serving ‘All Lahoris’,” the statement said.

       They urged the government to respect and uphold the law, halt the project in its current form, create an integrated e-bus system on existing roads, disclose the full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report and project documentation to the public, initiate a transparent, participatory planning process involving civil society and redirect investment towards equitable, city-wide solutions that aligned with Lahore’s long-term sustainability and climate resilience.

       Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2025