ONE doesn’t know how many registered vehicles now run on Karachi’s roads and how many of their drivers have driving licences. If one were to make a wild guess, the figures for both, without a shadow of doubt, would be more than a couple of million. And that doesn’t include unregistered cars, motorcycles and buses.

The traffic issue in Karachi had begun to rear its head in the 1960s. Accidents and violation of traffic rules had become frequent, giving a headache to the authorities. Their main concern, though, was reckless driving. According to a report published on Nov 6, 1967, there were 19,820 licensed drivers for 710,000 mechanically propelled vehicles on city roads. The learners’ licence acquisition applications submitted to the Karachi Traffic Police Office on a daily basis was 175 and 133 renewal applications. Traffic police officials believed strict rules for issuing licences to drivers after a long and tough training could improve the poor situation on the roads created by rash and negligent driving.

One more step was taken to improve the situation: to get good quality buses on the roads. In that regard the Swedish government announced that it would gift no fewer than 621 buses to be used in Karachi. The first consignment of 150 buses was scheduled to reach the city on Feb 1, 1968. To finalise things, on Nov 7 a three-member technical team from Sweden led by Rolf Lindjo called on commissioner of Karachi Syed Darbar Ali Shah and discussed matters related to maintenance and workshop facilities for the buses. The team was briefed by the commissioner on the transport problem, suggesting the Sindh capital needed about 2,000 buses, whereas at present there were fewer than 600.

Obviously, new ideas require new financial strategies. On Nov 8, Karachi’s top administrators decided to call a meeting to discuss an increase in bus fares. The meeting, presided over by the commissioner, was attended by the deputy commissioner, the DIG of police, the superintendent of the traffic police, the director of Excise and Taxation and the secretary of the Regional Transport Authority. They requested the commissioner to call the city leaders “of all shades of opinion” before the revised fares were introduced.

The increase in the number of vehicles was, of course, because of the intractable population boom. It was also changing, if not affecting, the architectural makeup of the city. On Nov 10, this newspaper reported that at least 4,000 new houses were built in the city every year in the colonies developed over a decade by the Karachi Development Authority (KDA). The Architect Control Department of the authority had approved about 35,000 building plans since Jan 1, 1960. It received nearly 40,000 building plans but the remaining ones were either rejected or sent to architects for necessary amendments in accordance with the building regulations. On average, over 4,000 new plans were submitted to the KDA every year.

Let’s end this week’s column by reminding ourselves of another piece of architecture that was once an integral part of our cityscape: Clifton band stand. In 2017, it has disappeared behind the newly built undulating overhead and underpass bridges. Mind you, there was a time in the past when it was ignored just like today, but it didn’t take long for the city fathers to realise its significance. So, on Nov 5, 1967 the Clifton band stand was revived when the Pakistan Navy band played there gratis for the [Sunday] holidaying crowd. Called the ‘concert by the sea’, it was mainly composed of popular tunes and martial beats, lasting for two hours.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2017