KARACHI: The traffic system turned chaotic in a couple of districts with an unusually heavy traffic flow on Monday, which was the first working day since the Friday shutdown by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

The worst affected districts were district east and south where roads were clogged with vehicles. Motorists spent hours on the roads due to the traffic congestion in the evening.

“There was no particular cause [for the congestion] like road blockade or closure,” said a spokesman for the Karachi traffic police.

However, he said, the markets were crowded with a sudden drop in temperature and in view of upcoming Christmas.

The official said: “Actually, the city remained closed for three days. On Friday, there was a PTI strike. On Saturday, markets remained closed due to Chehlum of Imam Hussain and then came the weekly holiday. A large number of people, mainly from the Christian community, turned to markets which are mostly located in district south.”

In district south, vehicles in long queues were witnessed on I. I. Chundrigar Road, M.R. Kayani Road, Sarwar Shaheed Road, Abdullah Haroon Road, South Napier Road, Old Outram Road, Hasrat Mohani Road, Wood Street, Shahrah-i-Kamal Ataturk, Burnes Road, Belassis Street, Shahrah-i-Liaquat and in Saddar. The traffic congestion also affected a part of Sharea Faisal and the road from the Metropole hotel to the PIDC traffic intersection, while roads in some of Defence Housing Authority phases remained disturbed for a few hours.

While there was no official word on traffic arrangements made to handle the situation, the spokesman said the traffic turned normal after ‘consistent and hectic efforts of the senior officials’.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2014