Protest over power, water frustrates commuters

Traffic logjam from KU to Gurmandir, surrounding areas

KARACHI:

A protest on Thursday over disruption in electricity and water supply by people living near the Old Sabzi Mandi area disrupted traffic using the University Road all the way to Gurumandir, with traffic spillover causing logjams in surrounding areas as well.

Residents upset over lack of electricity and water blocked a patch between Jail Chowrangi and Hassan Square at around 4:30pm.

With a section of road already closed due to matches of the domestic T20 league, the protest blocked traffic coming from Jail Chowrangi, PIB Colony, New Town, Stadium Road, Liaquatabad, Gurumandir, Jamshed Road, Teen Hatti, Kashmir Road, New MA Jinnah Road, Bahadurabad, Tariq Road, Dhoraji Colony, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karsaz and other areas.

There was a similar bottleneck on the University Road a day earlier following another protest. The protestors returned on Thursday evening and continued the sit-in for several hours until they agreed to disperse after negotiations with the police.

A spokesman for traffic police said that some roads were already closed for the security of the PSL match, but the protest on University Road deteriorated the traffic situation to a large extent.

A spokesperson of K-Electric, the utility provider, said electricity was disconnected in some areas of the Old Sabzi Mandi including Karnal Basti. These areas owe a total of more than Rs770 million in unpaid electricity bills, he said, urging the residents to ensure timely payment for better supply of electricity.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2023.