KARACHI, July 15: A nerve-racking traffic jam is witnessed on North Napier Road, right Denso Hall up to Lea Market during peak hours in the morning and evening.
It also affects the traffic flow on Nishtar Road and other link roads leading to City Courts, Civil Hospital, and other commercial centres.
Half of the road was encroached upon by patharidars, pushcart vendors and fruit-sellers and parking of vehicles on both sides of the Road is the main cause of traffic jams.
Area residents allege that the police are protecting 500 encroachers by accepting protection money which runs into millions in a month.
It is one of the busiest roads in Saddar Town because it is surrounded by Juna Market, Khajoor Bazar and Kori Garden, besides chemical market.
Highly-dangerous and inflammable chemicals are dumped in shops situated on both sides of the road which can lead to any explosive situation in the surrounding areas as happened last year when a chemical shop caught fire. However, timely action saved the situation.
In view of parking of vehicles on both sides of the road, motorists, pedestrians and employees have to face problems to reach their workplaces.
So far no serious attempt had been made by traffic police and other agencies to regulate the traffic flow and remove roadside encroachments.
Residents say parking of all sorts of the vehicles on both sides be stopped.
Last year the civic authorities had removed vendors and other roadside blockades and traffic was improved a lot. However, they sprang up again and blocked the roads.
Traffic congestion and chaos have become a regular feature on this route and the situation is aggravating day-by-day because of rapid increase in vehicles as authorities seem to have no plan to either regulate the traffic or check the encroachments.
Over the years Lea Market has turned into one of biggest terminuses in the city where a number of local, inter-city and inter-province buses and mini-buses either terminate or start their journey.
Besides, a number of local buses and mini-buses make their intermediate stops here or pass through the Lea Market. The situation has turned the area into one of the most congested areas in the city.
As the number of buses is rapidly increasing, the space for parking is becoming more and more insufficient. All spaces previously used for parking purposes now have buildings on them, leaving bus operators with no choice but to park their vehicles on the road-side.
Local buses and mini-buses terminating here ply from Landhi, Malir, Quaidabad, Gadap and Korangi etc. All these buses are parked on road-sides.
Moreover, the buses for inter-city routes depart or arrive here mainly from interior Sindh i.e. Thatta, Sujawal, Sewan etc. There is a small open plot available for parking of these buses which has become insufficient.
Besides, buses arrive or depart here from various cities of Balochistan and NWFP including Hub, Lasbella, Khuzdar, Turbat Gwadar and Peshawar.
For the last decade, the these buses have increased manifold as a large number of workers from various parts of Karachi come here for their journey to Hub and Bela. These buses are parked at Sheedi village Road, Chawkiwara Road and now they have took over old Tonga Stand.
Residents blame the municipal officials and the police for giving the transporters a free hand who have defaced the whole area by establishing mini-bus stands in the surroundings of the market.
Mushroom growth of encroachers consisting of cart-pushers, footpath venders, stalls, cabins and workshops have compounded the miseries of the people.
The residents accused the police for taking bribe from these encroachers who stage a comeback after the end of every operation.
