The traffic flow on the roads adjoining the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) Interchange came to a halt as residents of Bilal Colony, Korangi Crossing and Baloch Colony blocked roads and staged a protest against the load-shedding of natural gas and electricity on Friday.
At around 3pm, the residents of Bilal Colony blocked Bilal Chowrangi for their sit-in and the vehicles passing the road had to take service roads linking the areas. At 3:30pm, Korangi residents living around the Korangi Crossing closed the crossing road for traffic, hence further deteriorating the traffic flow. The last to join the chain of protests were the residents of Baloch Colony who took to the Expressway and blocked the traffic.
The protests affected the flow of traffic coming from and going towards Landhi, Korangi Industrial Area, Korangi Nadi, Korangi Causeway, Korangi Crossing, Qayyumabad, Expressway, Sharae Faisal, Defence Housing Authority, Baloch Colony, Mehmoodabad and Manzoor Colony for more than four hours.
"It took me two hours to reach to my office while it normally takes only 20 minutes," said Mohammad Farhan, a resident of Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
The protesters threw stones on the roads and were not allowing the vehicles to pass through.
"We have not been receiving a proper gas supply for over three months," said a protester at Mehmoodabad No 6. "It is getting impossible for the residents to cook food."
A middle-aged woman was shouting and praising herself for advising the residents to stage the protest. "No one is going to hear you until you come on roads," she told the protesters. The protesters held sticks with which they were signalling the commuters to stay off the road. The protest culminated by 5pm and the roads were opened by 5:15pm.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 15th, 2014.
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