KARACHI, May 31: A group of girl students of the Urdu Science College, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, urged the city government to construct an overhead pedestrian bridge on the University Road opposite the college as several traffic accidents have taken place at the bus stop.

Talking to this news agency, Saima, Uzma, Shagufta and other students expressed the view that an overhead bridge near the college was need of the hour. They regretted that it was unfortunate that the government never take any notice of complaints of the people unless any major incident claimed some precious lives.

They recalled that late Bushra Zaidi incident at the Sir Syed College in Nazimabad in mid 1980s had sparked riots against reckless driving during which hundreds of vehicles were set ablaze. A similar tragedy which occurred near Apwa Girls’ College at Karimabad a few months back could be repeated at Urdu Science College due to the ratio of increasing road accidents, they feared.

They said that vehicles coming down fast from Karachi University on the overhead bridge never bothered to slow down so that pedestrians could cross road, especially during the peak hours, resulting in accidents as a routine matter.

The students recalled that the college administration had written a letter to the city administration to inform them about the situation of road accidents in front of the institution which has recently gained the status of a university.

The college girls stressed that an overhead pedestrian bridge was urgently needed to avert any major accident and to save lives of college students and other people.

It is interesting to note here that the traffic and communication department of the city government had also included Urdu Science College in the ten locations where overhead pedestrian bridges would be installed, but all arrangements in this regard have been restricted to be finalized in meetings only.

The traffic accidents have become routine in the city and the print media is full of news of these accidents every day. According to reports, more than 700 people die in road accidents annually, fifty-six per cent of them pedestrians.—PPI