KARACHI, Feb 27: Commuters living in the Korangi Crossing area are facing great hardships as there is no traffic signal system and proper bus stops at the crossing. Commuters have to wait on the roadside where traffic is utterly unruly.

Because of a weekly bazaar site close to the stop, vehicles of every denomination come and go unchecked wherever they wish in utter disregard for the safety of the pedestrians.

The main road running from Saddar to Landhi via Korangi passes through the crossing. Catering to a huge population, this road always remains busy. Both Korangi and Landhi are among the most-thickly populated areas of the city.

At the crossing, the main road branches out to the Korangi Fish Harbor. Along this road are situated the PAF base of Korangi Creek, Ibrahim Haideri, the National Refinery and the Pak-Arab Refinery Company.

Besides, three major educational institutions - the College of Business Management, the Institute of Business and Technology and the PAF Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology are also situated on this road, and hundreds of cars and other vehicles ferry students of these institutions daily.

To make the situation worse, two weekly bazaars are also organized next to the very roadside. In addition, hoards of pushcarts and roadside stalls are an integral part of the daily life scenario here. These vendors block the link road and hinder public movement around this spot.

Although people from Altaf Town also use the crossing as their boarding place, the residents of Bhitai Colony, a populous locality, have to bear the burnt. Daily, in the morning thousands of commuters have to assemble on the roadside to catch their respective buses, minibuses and coaches. And in the evening they once again go through this ordeal.

As there is no proper bus stop or traffic signal, it all depends on the senses as well as the sense of humour of the harried drivers that where to stop. The commuters have to literally run after buses, usually brimming with passengers, but appear to be stopping, while the flow of traffic is on their heels.

On this dangerous movement, the commuters are at an open risk to be hit or crushed by a speeding vehicle coming right behind them. The area citizens have several times appealed to the authorities to install a traffic signal system at the Korangi Crossing, besides constructing proper bus stops on the both sides of this busy road.

The head of a non-governmental organization, the Friends of Bhitai Colony, Khalid Omar Chhurra, said that the lives of local commuters were in grave danger due to the indifference of the authorities concerned in solving this important traffic problem. - PPI