KARACHI, Dec 8: Citizens experienced yet another day of traffic jams mostly in downtown where vehicles remained stuck on roads and streets for hours on Friday.
Traffic started clogging on various roads in Saddar in the afternoon and the traffic congestions expanded later in the evening up to M.A. Jinnah Road, old city areas, Sharea Faisal, Liaquatabad, Nazimabad and other areas.
Traffic police appeared helpless in clearing the mess and regulating the traffic. The attitude of motorists was equally responsible for aggravating the situation as their intolerance blocked the section of incoming traffic on dual carriageways.
A motorist said he was trapped in the deluge of traffic on M.A. Jinnah Road near Purani Numaish intersection while he was heading towards Zainab Market. He said his vehicle moved at snail’s pace and covered the distance in 25 minutes which was usually covered in five minutes.
Abdullah Haroon Road remained jam-packed with vehicles from 3pm to 9pm and the most affected part was the portion where electronic market was located.
A police officer blamed the association of electronic market for allowing parking which made the road narrower and caused traffic congestions. Motorists said shopkeepers of electronic market allegedly influenced the traffic police to allow visitors to park their vehicles and motorbikes on the main road.
The government appeared helpless in clearing the road of illegal parking which caused hindrance to smooth flow of traffic all along Abdullah Haroon Road from electronic market up to Fountain Chowk. There are no restrictions on the shopkeepers on loading and unloading goods at their shops on the busy portion of Abdullah Haroon Road and Aga Khan III Road during rush hours. A truck, parked vertical on road, was seen in front of Mubarak Manzil unloading electronics goods in the peak hours and no traffic police official was seen there.
Besides, police and the town administration are equally responsible for not removing the encroachment in front of cooperative market that caused traffic congestions in Saddar. Parallel parking was allowed on Zaibunnisa Street and Abdullah Haroon Road but the police were unable to stop people from parking their vehicles on the parallel row on either side.
The impact of traffic jams in Saddar was felt on other roads and thoroughfares as the vehicles on two busiest dual carriageways – M.A. Jinnah Road and Sharea Faisal – also got stuck when they did not find a way out towards Saddar.
Besides, motorists experienced traffic jams especially during peak hours in Nazimabad, Gulbahar, Lasbella, Business Recorder Road, Jahangir Road, Jamshed Road, Jail Chowrangi, New M.A. Jinnah Road, Tariq Road, Bahadurabad, Hasan Square and Gharibabad.
Insiders in the police department attributed the failure of regulating traffic to postings of incompetent officials at the most important locations. The section officers played a significant role besides the SP and DSP of traffic zones.
Sources said imposition of law could only be possible when there was a will. Each traffic section generated money and distributed the same among their ranks and files. The practice had taken roots as a section officer could be transferred if he did not generate money, they said.
Public transport and commercial vehicle drivers were also not afraid of being fined as they paid weekly amount to traffic police for committing violations of traffic rules, the sources said adding that the system cannot improve until the irregularities are checked and the culture within the traffic police is changed.
