Karachiites suffered hours-long agonising traffic jam on Thursday as the Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) staged a sit-in on Sharea Faisal outside the office of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) to protest against the alleged non-issuance of NOCs (no-objection certificate) by the board for the construction of multi-storey buildings in the metropolis.

The ABAD officials complained that the Supreme Court has given permission for construction of up to six storey buildings in the metropolis, still, the KWSB “was not issuing NOCs to them”.

The protest continued on Sharea Faisal for over six hours despite the recent directives of police that no protest or sit-in would be allowed on main arteries of the metropolis including Sharea Faisal, as such activities triggered immense hardships for the citizens.

Abad office-bearers left their office near Safari Park in a caravan vehicle on Thursday noon and staged a sit-in on the main artery, which links the city with the airport. They parked heavy machinery vehicles on both tracks of the road, which resulted in the prolonged traffic jam.

“For some time both the tracks were completely blocked for traffic,” said Karachi East Zone DIG Amir Farooqi.

At one point, it was rumoured that ABAD and the KWSB officials have reached at an ‘agreement’ over the issuance of NOCs, as per the directives of the apex court and one track was opened. However, later both the tracks were again blocked by parking two heavy vehicles on it.

Subsequently, traffic jams also occurred on adjoining roads as the traffic authorities blocked Club Road from PIDC toward Sharea Faisal and traffic was diverted on alternate routes.

The vehicles coming from Airport to Tower were diverted to Shah Faisal Colony while traffic coming from National Stadium Road to Baloch Colony was also diverted on other roads.

Later in the day, the police authorities managed to persuade the protesters to open one track of Sharea Faisal from Metropole hotel to airport while vehicles plied on track from airport to the city, resultantly there was immense traffic pressure as there were huge lines of vehicles seen on the main artery, causing inconveniences to commuters who remained stuck for several hours.

Meanwhile, IGP Sindh Dr Syed Kaleem Imam took notice of the traffic jam and directed the DIG Traffic to take immediate steps to restore the traffic. IG Imam also directed the district police to help traffic police to reduce traffic pressure on roads.