Karachi is Pakistan largest city but it badly lacks public transport
KARACHI: Karachi is Pakistan largest city but it badly lacks public transport. It is perhaps also the dirtiest city of the country. Due to the shortage of buses and local trains people are increasingly buying motorcycles. Most people are being compelled to depend on motorcycle to save their jobs. They have come to the conclusion that they have been left to fend for themselves. If they have to reach their workplaces they should have their own transport and motorcycle is the vehicle that most people can afford to buy. Now motorcycles are available at easy monthly instalments. Those who can afford cars they are buying cars. But the rising numbers of motorcycles and cars on roads are resulting in increasing accidents. This is also increasing pollution of all kinds, including noise pollution. The increasing environmental and noise pollution is resulting in health issues. The increasing noise is feared to cause widespread complaints of deafness. How long will governmental apathy continue no one can say? A prominent Urdu satirist, Fikr Taunsvi, has aptly described the neglect of public transport in South Asia, “Public transport in the subcontinent is running fifty years behind schedule.”
Imtiaz Ahmed
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2018.
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