KARACHI, Dec 11: A nerve-racking traffic jam has become the order of the day on North Napier Road, an important artery in Saddar Town linking Lea Market with M.A Jinnah Road and Nishtar Road, as the entire route right from Denso Hall up to the Lea Market has been encroached upon by squatter vendors, pushcart holders and fruit sellers.

Taking advantage of the situation, all shopkeepers have virtually occupied the footpaths by keeping their display goods on the pavements and leaving hardly any room for pedestrians to walk through.

Besides, they park their vehicles on both sides of the road, which is the main cause of traffic jams. It becomes an uphill task to drive or walk on the road, particularly during the peak hours, a resident said.

The congestion affects traffic flow on Nishtar Road and other link roads leading to the City Courts, Civil Hospital and other commercial centres.

The road is one of the busiest thoroughfares in Saddar Town as it is surrounded by many commercial centres, including Juna Market, Khajoor Bazaar, Kori Bazaar and various chemical markets.

Highly-dangerous and inflammable chemicals are stored in shops situated on both sides of the road which can cause explosions as happened last year when a chemical shop was engulfed in a blaze. However, timely action saved the situation from getting out of control. In view of the traffic snarl-up, motorists, pedestrians and employees working in the area face problems to reach their workplaces.

So far, traffic police and other agencies have not taken any step to regulate traffic flow and remove encroachments on the roadside. Some time ago the authorities had removed vendors and other roadside blockades and traffic condition was improved a lot. However, the encroachments sprang up again.

Traffic congestion and chaos have become a regular feature on this route and the situation has been aggravating day-by-day due to rapid increase in the number of vehicles.

The situation in Lea Market is even worst, as a number of local, inter-city and inter-province buses and minibuses either terminate here or begin their journey from the area.

Besides, a number of local buses and minibuses make their intermediate stops here or pass through the market. As the number of buses is rapidly increasing, the space for parking is becoming insufficient. The entire market area and its link arteries have been turned into bus terminuses.

Local buses and minibuses terminating here come from Landhi, Malir, Quaidabad, Gadap and Korangi, etc. All these buses are parked on the roadside, which is one of the main reasons for traffic congestion in the area.

Moreover, the inter-city buses depart or arrive here mainly from interior of Sindh. There is a small open plot available for parking of these buses but it has now become insufficient for them.

Besides, buses arrive here from various cities of Balochistan and NWFP, including Hub, Lasbella, Khuzdar, Turbat Gwadar and Peshawar.

For the last one decade, the number of buses has 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 on Sheedi Village Road and Chawkiwara Road and now they have even taken over the 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 minibus stands in the surrounding of the market.

The residents allege that police are protecting about 500 encroachers by accepting bribe, running into millions of rupees every month.