KARACHI, Sept 6: While the prolonged traffic jams in Karachi have become order of the day, the situation may aggravate further in the holy month of Ramazan when all sorts of transport means, public and private, would join in the race to reach their destinations before Iftar time, as usually happens in the fasting month.
The upcoming Ramazan may witness a complete chaos on major thoroughfares every day in the evening because of the digging having been carried out on a massive level. The condition of most roads in the metropolis is worse than ever before. A large number of the arteries is closed fully or partially to traffic due to the potholes, craters and ditches while many others are not motorable as the recent rains have played havoc with them.
The most vulnerable to prolonged jams are M. A. Jinnah Road, particularly its Tibet Centre-Tower section, Burnes Road, Shahrah-i-Liaquat between Lasbela Chowk and Golimar Chowrangi; Business Recorder Road, Abdullah Haroon Road, Hassan Square, Sharea Faisal and all smaller roads leading to these thoroughfares.
It has been observed that traffic jams take place mainly due to impatience often showed by drivers, mainly of public transport means, who would always resort to violating traffic rules.
Haphazard parking of vehicles along the roads like Business Recorder Road, Golimar Road, Abdullah Haroon Road, Burnes Road, etc., happens to be the second major cause of traffic mess. Indifferent attitude of traffic police only adds to the miseries of those trapped in the deluge.
Qazi Abdul Qadir, DO Transport and Communication, when contacted, said that a meeting would be held on Thursday (Sept 7) to discuss this serious issue and suggest ways and means to avoid traffic mess in Ramazan.
However, he apprehended that due to the ongoing development and construction projects, it would be very difficult to ensure a smooth flow of vehicular traffic this Ramazan.
Saleem Bangash, Chairman of the National Transport Ittehad, in this context blamed the traffic police who always stayed away from traffic signals and ignore violation of traffic rules, but would not lose any opportunity to extort money by threatening drivers with challan.
He was of the view that ill-planning on the part of the concerned civic agencies had created the situation as almost all the major roads and smaller arteries had been dug up in a haste simultaneously. No alternative arrangements to ensure a smooth flow of traffic had been made, he noted, adding that flooding in recent rains had turned the situation worse.
“The I. I. Chundrigar Road is riddled with potholes and craters whereas many roads around Boulton Market are still under water,” he pointed out.
Mr Bangash urged the city government and traffic police department to take special remedial measures to improve the situation and ensure relief to faithful in Ramazan. He said the city government should remove all encroachments to avoid the risk of accidents and traffic jams. He held out the assurance that drivers would be made to cooperate with the city government and traffic police if suitable measures in this regard were taken.—PPI
