KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday came down hard on local administration and traffic police over closure of the Burns Road in the evening to set up a food street.

The bench comprising Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Rashida Asad remarked that people were facing hardship as the diversion of traffic to narrow lanes in the Burns Road area causing inconvenience and restricting their free movement.

The court directed the officials to file comments in four weeks.

A traffic police official informed the bench that the road was being closed at 7pm for the food street and district administration had issued a notification in this regard.

Traffic police close the busy road for vehicular traffic daily at 7pm

The bench also questioned as to how local administration could issue the notification for closure of a busy road for a food street without consulting the residents of the area.

It warned to summon the deputy commissioner-South if replies were not filed on the next hearing.

A resident of Burns Road filed a petition stating that he and other residents had been facing extreme difficulties due to the decision of the district administration to block the thoroughfare between 7pm and 2am for the food street.

He sought directive for the district administration and other respondents to withdraw the notification regarding to the closure of the road.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2022