KARACHI: City residents suffered hours-long severe traffic jam mainly in its South district on Tuesday, where security arrangements for the procession of Chehlum and a protest by area residents of Lyari against prolonged electricity outages and water shortages resulted in blockages of many important arteries and caused several-kilometer-long queues of hundreds of vehicles that became stuck on neighboring link roads.

However, a traffic official said that the police had already notified closure of several roads in Saddar, M. A. Jinnah Road and adjoining areas located on the route of the main Chehlum procession.

Although the law enforcement agency had already mentioned alternative routes for road users, the light rain in different parts of the district and then impact of Monday’s rains in several areas made smooth driving impossible for motorists.

“The main procession of Chehlum was taken out from Nishtar Park,” said the official. “The mourners went through parts of M.A. Jinnah Road and after passing through the Preedy Street, Empress Market and Regal Chowk, the procession reemerged on M.A. Jinnah Road. The traffic along all these roads was suspended and diverted to alternative routes. So the pressure was obviously on the alternative routes.”

He added that the major pressure came from Mauripur Road where a large number of residents of Lyari staged a sit-in on main Mauripur Road and ICI bridge to protest against water shortages and electricity crisis in the locality.

The hours-long sit-in began in the first half of the day and continued till late in the evening. Led by Jamaat-i-Islami MPA Abdul Rasheed, a large number of youths, women and children participated in the protest.

In district south, hundreds of vehicles were stuck in snarl-up on I. I. Chundrigar Road, M.R. Kyani Road, Sarwar Shaheed Road, Abdullah Haroon Road, South Napier Road, Old Outram Road, Hasrat Mohani Road, Wood Street, Shahra-i-Kamal Ataturk, Burns Road, Belassis Street, Shahra-i-Liaquat and Nicol Road, etc.

“The movement of vehicles on roads which were open for traffic was also slow due to rainwater accumulation after two days rains,” said the traffic official.

“In some areas drivers lost patience with traffic jams and began lane violations and wrong-side driving that resulted in gridlocks. It was only south which remained worst affected. Many offices of private and government organisations and companies are located in this district. Similarly, key commercial places are also in the same are from where people left for home and other destinations only to put extra pressure on roads.”

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2021