KARACHI, June 4: Every year more than 550 people are killed in road accidents and most of them are motorcycle riders or pedestrians. The involvement of public transport in road accidents is more than 72 per cent according to city transport department’s statistics, while their share in vehicular population in Karachi is just 3.34 per cent.

It is estimated that there are 5,000 more buses needed to overcome the problem of commuters. On the other hand, it will not only aggravate the traffic congestion but also may cause an increase in road accidents. The unbridled public transport growth has become a mafia. They dictate the government to allow them run the public transport on their own terms and condition and the government seems helpless in controlling the transport operators.

Whenever the government, be it provincial or city, take action using traffic police to enforce a writ of law, the transport operators always threaten to go on a strike and ultimately the government has to bow to the transport mafia, which shows the government’s utter failure to enforce law. The transport operators are always in a position that they can challenge the law where and when they want to do.

In October 2001, the traffic police launched a campaign against coach operators forcing them to take the passengers seat- by-seat. The traffic police vigorously enforced the law and took stern action against violators. Eventually, the transport operators threatened a strike call and the government directed the traffic police to abandon the campaign.

In view of reckless driving by the drivers of public transport, the traffic police launched another campaign and heavily came down on the errant drivers by booking them under section 279 of the PPC, which reads: “Whoever drives any vehicle, or rides, on any public way in a manner so rash or negligent as to endanger human life, or to be likely to cause hurt or injury to any other person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.”

The campaign has been successful as it created a fear to some extent among the drivers of the public transport. After the traffic police booked almost 3,000 drivers under section 279 of the PPC, the transport operators started making a hue and cry and as usual they observed a token strike for one day and threatened an indefinite strike call, if the campaign was not withdrawn.

This time, the elected city government followed the practice of its preceding governments and directed the traffic police to abandon the campaign against the errant drivers.

If the government acts in such a way, one cannot expect any significant action to streamline the disorganized and mismanaged traffic in the city. The credit to allow the traffic mess to grow unbridled goes to those at the helm of affairs of the government, who may have some vested interests or any other reason best known to them.

In this situation when the city government has apparently failed to check the existing public transport, it has been planning to bring more large buses for which Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) are being signed with foreign investors. It is, indeed, in favour of the country to bring investment but anyone in the government has ever looked into the problem in its real perception.

Is the influx of large buses feasible for city roads? Are the city and provincial governments able to regulate the foreign transport companies after having failed to control the local transport operators? Won’t these heavy vehicles increase the ratio of road erosion? Is there any guarantee that after adding the massive fleet of large buses to the jungle of traffic will not cause an increase in the ratio of road accidents?

Actually, the public transport is a profit-oriented business but the transporters shed crocodile tears to express their losses by fudging of figures to earn more and more profits. If there are genuine problems to the transporters and they are faced with financial crunch due to raise in the prices of fuel and spare parts then how a transporter adds one or more buses to its existing fleet every year?

The transporters, with an excuse, do not bother to follow the rules. The drivers and conductors of public transport do not wear uniform as prescribed in the law because they fear that they can be identified in case of accident and people can beat them, and the government has given them exemption. Why? Are they above the law?

Any punitive action against errant drivers of public transport, which is always welcomed by the commuters and a section of life, is opposed by the transporters, who always threaten a strike call if the action is not withdrawn. The government always bows before the demands of transporters and abandons the action. Why? Are there some officials, directly or indirectly owners of the public transport and their vested interests are hurt due to the punitive action? Why the government does not let the public transporters go on a strike for indefinite period because everyone knows that they cannot go on an indefinite strike as they cannot afford their business losses for more than three days. A will is needed to serve public interests rather than mafia’s interests.

Addition of large buses to the existing number of public transport may not be a pragmatic solution to the transport problem. If the government is really interested in bringing large buses, it should also consider reviving the circular railway, which is in the extreme interest of the commuters and also can cause a dent in the monopoly of the transport mafia. The feasibility of the Karachi Circular Railway is ready and funds are required to begin work on it. The federal and provincial governments should give it importance as it is a safe, cheap, economical and environment-friendly mode of transport.