KARACHI, Nov 6: Few people could visit jails to meet inmates on Wednesday due to the public transport strike in the city.

Less than half the usual number of visitors could reach the Central Prison to meet their near and dear ones as few buses plied the roads.

Rashid Saeed, the superintendent of the Central Prison, where more than 5,000 inmates - 891 convicts and over 4,240 undertrial prisoners - are lodged, told this reporter that the usual number of visitors to the jail inmates shrank by 50 per cent.

Most people visited the jail by their own vehicles, mainly motorcycles, and many others had to hire cabs and rickshaws, which overcharged them taking advantage of the situation.

Mohammed Irshad, a resident of Landhi, said he hired a taxi for Rs200 to go to the century-old Central Prison to meet his interned cousin.

The jail superintendent said up to 500 people visited the prison daily. “However, around 250 turned up on Wednesday to meet inmates,” he added.

Still fewer people visited the District Malir Jail, commonly known as Landhi jail, where there are 3,500 prisoners. The jail superintendent, Qamar Shah, told this reporter that only 20 per cent of the usual number of visitors came to the jail.

Though the day saw the usual presence of judges and judicial magistrate in their respective courts, a sizable number of paralegal staff could not turn up, partially affecting the court proceedings.

The majority of lawyers also turned up at the courts as most of them have their own conveyance. There were, however, few litigants.