KARACHI, Aug 25: A high-level committee was formed on Saturday to find out a short-term solution to the issue of traffic jams in the city.

The committee, formed in a meeting presided over by Sindh Chief Secretary Ejaz Qureshi, comprises the chief secretary’s OSD Shafiq Khoso, DCO Javed Haneef, DIG Traffic Wajid Durrani and representatives of industry and transporters. It will prepare a strategy after consulting all the stakeholders.

Various issues that led to traffic jams such as the repair of old roads and the construction of new roads, poor drainage system, encroachments, shortage of terminals for heavy vehicles, violation of traffic laws and the construction of unauthorised speed-breakers were discussed.

Participants suggested that the condition of roads be improved, traffic laws be strictly implemented, transport relief service to immediately remove broken down vehicles from roads be introduced, increased police patrolling on the Northern Bypass, and the timings of heavy vehicles’ movement be changed.

The chief secretary said that a traffic management cell would also be formed which, after consulting all the stakeholders, would formulate a long-term strategy to control traffic jams.

He said that efforts were being made to improve the KCR, bring in CNG buses, improve the drainage system and expedite the repair of roads so that the issue of traffic jams, which the superior judiciary had taken notice of, could be solved on a priority basis. He said that the issue of traffic jams got particularly serious during and soon after rains.

IG Sindh Ziaul Hasan, Irshad Bokhari, Roland deSouza, Azhar Farooqi, Col Javed, Asif Mehmood, Khalid Khan, Chaudhry Iqbal, Mehmood Afridi, and others also spoke.

The Supreme Court directive to improve the city’s traffic management system has visibly activated all the concerned departments, especially the transport, works and services and traffic police. Besides the chief secretary and secretaries of the relevant departments, the city government and bureaucrats have geared up their efforts to remove all impediments in a smooth flow of vehicular traffic across the city.

On Friday, Mr Qureshi, along with some senior officials, undertook a whirlwind visit of the city to assess the situation and ascertain causes of traffic jams. He held consultations with various officials to finalise remedial measures.

All civic agencies and stakeholders are being told to come out with their suggestions on the issue. Executives of different development projects, especially those pertaining to flyovers, bridges and roads, briefed the chief secretary about the pace and tentative completion of the projects to give him an idea of how many days they would take to allow the vehicular traffic free movement around the sites of their respective projects.

Managing director of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and EDO Works informed the chief secretary about their ongoing projects of water supply and drainage system in different parts of the city.

In order to ensure compliance of the Supreme Court directive, the chief secretary has advised the city government and all the utility agencies to complete their ongoing projects at the earliest.

On Friday evening, workers from various agencies were seen clearing mud and garbage left unattended on many roads in commercial and food streets. Encroachments and rocks of earth from dug up roads were also lifted and removed in several localities to widen the usable portion of thoroughfares. However, the exercise could not be continued the next morning as a brief but heavy spell of rainfall aggravated the conditions around the sites of the ongoing road projects. Prolonged traffic jams were reported from all the major thoroughfares of the city till sunset on Saturday.