KARACHI, Nov 27: Lea market has lost its traditional charm as being one of the biggest business centre in the Old City area where lower- and middle-class people once used to buy their essential commodities as with the passage of time it has been converted into a big bus terminus, where the transporter mafia reigns supreme.

A survey of the market area shows that the mafia controls all important routes leading to Saddar and Lyari. Upcountry transporters have established their booking offices in residential areas of Lyari Town, where they freely park their vehicles on the main and link roads, thereby creating problems for pedestrians and motorists.

The situation has further deteriorated during the past few years when these transporters established their offices in congested residential areas by flouting traffic rules.

It is observed that all types of vehicles -- both from city routes and upcountry -- arrive here and park their huge buses in the middle of the road and a complete chaos is witnessed during rush hours in morning and evening. Police ignore all sorts of violations because of high connections of these transporters.

Area people have been constantly demanding shifting of the transport business from their localities and they have welcomed the recent decision of the city government to shift the transport business from Lyari Town to Yusuf Goth where a new bus terminus had been built. But residents apprehend that as had happened in the past this time the city government will also succumb to pressure of the transport mafia.

In the past on every occasion the city or town administration had succumbed to pressure. Even orders from higher courts could not have impact on them as they resisted every shifting move on one pretext or another.

It is noted that the mafia had always played tricks whenever an attempt was made by the authorities to shift them. They even moved the courts to seek an interim stay-order and resort to strikes to create obstacles in the shifting process, forcing the administration not to take any administrative action because of fear of possible law and order problem.

Lea Market, surrounded by Khajoor and Jodia bazaars, besides Sonara Bazaar, once a main shopping centre was frequented not only by people of Old City areas, but also by people from the interior of Sindh and Balochistan who used to buy essential commodities.

But with the emergence of transport business, it has turned into one of the biggest terminus in the city where a number of local inter-city and inter-province buses make their intermediate stops here or pass through Lea Market.

During the last decade, the number of buses has increased manifold as a large number of workers from parts of Karachi come here for their onward journey to Hub, Bela and other parts of Balochistan and Sindh.