KARACHI, Sept 11: The city government on Tuesday decided to take special measures for a smooth flow of traffic during Ramazan. For this purpose, volunteers from Civil Defence and NGOs would be assigned traffic control duty along with the traffic police and deployed along busy roads and roundabouts.

The decision was taken in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Karachi DCO Javed Hanif to review the measures aimed at overcoming the traffic jam problem in the light of the relevant Supreme Court orders.

The meeting was attended by DIG Traffic Wajid Durrani and heads of various city government departments, including KBCA, Water Board, Transport, Mass Transit, Works and Services, Municipal Services. President of the Karachi Transport Ittehad Irshad Bukhari and TMOs of various towns were also present.

It was also decided that traffic laws would be enforced strictly during the month.

Meanwhile, the government of Sindh has imposed a ban on the movement of all types of heavy vehicles on the city roads between 4pm and 7pm during Ramazan.

However, heavy transport vehicles meant for Karachi Port, SITE and Landhi Industrial Area are exempted from the restriction.

Top traffic police officials have maintained that the government, semi-government and private institutions mostly close early and a heavy rush of people returning home is usually witnessed a couple of hours before sunset during the holy month. This, they observes, create traffic congestion on all roads. The imposition of the ban on heavy vehicles during the rush hours has been taken in the light of their recommendation.

—APP/PPI