KARACHI, Nov 18: Severe traffic jams have become a routine affair on Roads in Saddar, especially near Empress Market, M. A. Jinnah Road and its link roads, and police are failing to control the situation.

Chaotic scenes are witnessed when schools are off in the afternoon in Saddar, exposing youngsters to the danger of accident.

Hundreds of roadside vendors have occupied entire footpaths in the market area. It is nerve-racking to drive on these roads, and even pedestrians cannot move on the roads.

Taking serious notice of the situation, Saddar Town Nazim Farooq Memon Fariya has urged the DIG Traffic Police to help end traffic jams being experienced on the main thoroughfares in the Town.

In a letter to the DIG Traffic, the Town Nazim pointed out that severe traffic jams have been occurring on roads in Saddar’s business area, Burnes Road, M. A. Jinnah Road, Nishtar Road, Abdullah Haroon Road, Gizri and other places between 3pm and 6pm.

According to him, traffic police officials have not taken any effective steps to improve the situation so far. Traffic jam are causing serious inconvenience to commuters in the holy month of Ramazan. Often they are forced to break their fast in the midst of traffic jams.

He stressed that special measures should be taken to control traffic to enable people to reach their homes in time for Iftar.

During the last 10 days of Ramazan, the Nazim further wrote, the rush of shoppers would increase and the traffic police should therefore take concrete measures to cope with the situation.

A survey shows that, under the present arrangement, most vehicles are routed through Saddar or M. A.Jinnah Road for onward journey, causing horrible traffic jams in the downtown, especially during peaks hours, consuming a lot of time and energy of commuters, particularly those who are on way to work.

It is also noticed that long routes of public transport vehicles restrict the availability of vehicles because three to four hours are needed to complete a return journey for a public transport vehicle.

Commuters, in view of the time constraint, are compelled to travel in overcrowded buses and coaches exposing themselves to serious hazards.