KARACHI: As caretaker Chief Minister retired Justice Maqbool Baqar on Saturday described heavy vehicles as the biggest reason behind traffic problems during daytime, the city administration clamped a ban on the movement of such vehicles from 6am to 11pm.

However, the ban will not be applied on heavy vehicles carrying essential commodities including water, edible oil, construction materials, liquid oxygen and meat.

A CM House spokesperson said that during his visits to parts of the city, the chief minister expressed grave displeasure over the movement of heavy vehicles during daytime and blamed them for accidents and environmental pollution.

Referring to the orders of the Supreme Court and Sindh High Court regarding restriction on movement of heavy traffic in the city from 6am to 11 pm, the chief minister directed the administration to ensure strict implementation of court orders.

Late in the afternoon, Commissioner Muhammad Saleem Rajput issued a notification imposing Section 144 of the criminal procedure code on the movement of heavy vehicles during daytime.

According to the notification, in order to protect human lives and ensure smooth flow of traffic, there is sufficient grounds to proceed under Section 144 of CrPC on the movement of heavy traffic vehicles within the city areas from 6 am to 11 pm, except three specified routes — Superhighway to New Karachi Industrial Area, National Highway to Godown Chowrangi via Manzil Petrol Pump to 8000 Road and Northern Bypass to Karachi Port via Gulbai.

The commissioner said that the ban on heavy traffic during daytime was imposed to resolve the traffic congestion due to the influx of heavy vehicular traffic, which was one of the major causes of traffic jam, deadly accidents and environmental pollution in the city.

He said that the chief minister had also issued directions for taking immediate measures to resolve the traffic congestion issue to provide relief to the people.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2023