Lahore, the city of gardens, once an intellectual center of the Indian subcontinent and now considered the cultural heart of Pakistan, has been included in a list of ‘52 places to love in 2021’ by the international newspaper, The New York Times. The Times asked readers to “tell us about spots that have delighted, inspired and comforted them in a dark year.”
A viral video on social media has shocked all of Lahore, after a family shared footage of a shawarma sandwich which was served with a dead rat’s meat inside it. Saleh Saleem posted on Facebook that his 10-year-old niece was about to consume the Middle Eastern dish at a local eatery but looked on in horror after finding the meat of the rodent inside.
Pakistan has launched its first underground water reservoir system to store water from seasonal rains and reduce flooding in Lahore. The project, titled “Monsoon Underground Water Reservoir”, took three months to be completed at Lahore’s Lawrence Garden. Built at the cost of Rs. 149 million, the water tank can hold up to 1.5 million gallons of water after a heavy downpour.
The Chief Minister of Punjab, Usman Buzdar has approved the construction of a “Dubai-like” modern city near Lahore. The new city in the north of Lahore, spread over more than 100,000 acres will be called Ravi Riverfront Project. It is anticipated that the private sector would invest about Rs5 trillion in the venture. However, final approval will come from Punjab Cabinet.
New Zealand’s third case of COVID-19 to emerge this week traveled to Auckland from Lahore. The Director-General of Health, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, confirmed that the man, in his 60s, is in quarantine after coming to New Zealand on Flight NZ124 after transiting through Doha and Melbourne. He stayed at an isolation hotel before being moved to quarantine.
As cases reach new high is Pakistan, the government of Punjab has decided to completely lockdown several areas of Lahore for two weeks. Speaking at a press conference, Punjab Health Minister Yasmin Rashid said that the areas will be under lockdown from midnight Monday. Food stores and pharmacies are to remain open in these areas. The areas to be locked
Over 100 shops were sealed in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad for violating the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the Punjab government. In addition to shops, two commercial centres, 22 industrial units were also sealed in the twin cities. Administration officials state that severity and frequency of raids would increase with each coming day in order to stop the spread of Coronavirus.
Multiple shops and markets were sealed in Lahore on Thursday for not following the government SOPs. The government had issued these SOPs to shopkeepers to follow to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. They include practices such as making hand sanitiser available within stores and ensuring social distancing is maintained. Forty-five shops in Shah Alam Market were sealed and seven in Chongi Amar Sidhu.
The Anjuman-e-Tajran Lahore has said that they will open their markets on May 10. The Centre has put the lockdown in place till May 9. A decision on its extension has yet to be made. Pakistan has reported at least 21,500 known cases of the novel virus so far. Lahore traders said they’ll “break” the lockdown if the government doesn’t lift it after May 9 as they want to resume their businesses.
An anti-narcotics court in Lahore exempted PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah from appearing before it in a drug possession case on Saturday. A petition for exemption was submitted by Sanaullah’s lawyers. It said that the PML-N leader can’t attend court hearing in person because of the threat of the coronavirus. He said that it is unsafe for travel without security and he can’t travel with his security guard.