KARACHI, July 30: Orangi and Site towns witnessed day-long traffic mess on most of the roads as the authorities, especially the traffic police, had not made suitable arrangements to avoid such a situation despite having a pretty good idea about the extraordinarily massive movement of public and private vehicles in the area where a three-day congregation, Tableeghi Ijtema, was scheduled for July 28-30.

Though traffic congestion at many intersections in the towns had repeatedly caused exhausting traffic jams during the past two days, it assumed the proportion of complete chaos on Monday, when participants of the congregation emerged on the roads to board public transport for their respective destinations, mainly upcountry.

Small and big groups of people crowded the usually congested roads, intersections, roundabouts and bust stops leaving almost no space for vehicles to move, ultimately bringing the transport system in several areas to a standstill for hours. Shahrah-i-Orangi, Banaras Chowk, Metroville, Orangi No 5, Abdullah College, Qasba Road, Manghopir Road,

Habib Bank Chowrangi, Pak Colony, Bara Board, Golimar, Raxer Lane, Sher Shah Road, Naurus Chowrangi and all the main arteries leading to Nazimabad and Haroonabad and certain other areas of the city remained clogged with vehicles into the evening.

Thousands of people travelling in public and private vehicles had to endure unfavourable weather conditions while remaining trapped in gridlock for several hours. Hundreds more, were seen walking along both sides of the clogged roads to reach a spot from where they could find some transport means and clear roads.

Drivers of public and private vehicles, especially rickshaws and bikes, contributed greatly in prolonging the jams on different roads by violating traffic rules in their desperate though vain attempts to get out of the mess. However, the traffic police personnel on duty appeared helpless as the situation continued to turn from bad to worse despite their hectic efforts to prevent the motorists from violating the traffic laws.

After getting frustrated by the defiant drivers’ attitude, all traffic signals along the affected roads were switched off and traffic police personnel had to regulate traffic manually. However, this exercise also took hours to improve the situation to some extent.

The traffic police and local administration were supposed to make suitable arrangements for a smooth flow of vehicular traffic in the two towns as the traffic mess was very much expected considering the closure of the under-construction portion of Shahrah-i-Orangi and the scheduled public and vehicular movement during the congregation. Although, the portion was temporarily opened to traffic, the uneven track and construction material spread elsewhere did not allow a smooth flow. “The indifferent attitude of the traffic police has resulted in the immense hardship being suffered by thousands of people in vehicles and on roads,” said residents of an Orangi locality who also complained that the contractors supposed to complete the development work on Shahrah-i-Orangi were showing lethargy.

The work had been started more than a year ago, they said, adding that the closure of the main thoroughfare had been causing many problems to the Orangi and SITE towns’ population.

Some other residents of Orangi Town pointed out that the ongoing development work on Shahrah-i-Orangi should not be blamed for the traffic chaos as this problem had been the order of the day at various intersections for years. In this context, they referred to the frequent traffic jams at Banaras Chowk, and said the government was not starting work on the proposed overhead bridge despite their repeated appeals.