Traffic snarls on main roads test motorists' patience

City paralysed by traffic chaos, cattle show at Expo, power outage protests

KARACHI:

Major roads of the metropolitan city witnessed traffic snarls on Saturday evening as motorists and commuters remained stranded in their vehicles for hours, while ambulances carrying patients also could not navigate through the maze of automobiles as police appeared helpless in dealing with the logjams.

According to the traffic police, the areas worst affected by congestion included Native Jetty Bridge, Mauripur Road, Ayesha Manzil, Karimabad, Liaquatabad No 10, Hassan Square, University Road, Teen Hatti, Jehangir Road, Jail Road, Rashid Minhas Road, Karsaz, Korangi Causeway, and Qayyumabad.

The traffic police cited an accident involving a dumper truck on Liaquat Ashraf Bridge, ongoing development work on Sohrab Goth river bridge, water pipeline burst in Shershah, cattle show at Expo Centre, goods transport vehicles checking into the port at Keamari, development work at Ayesha Manzil, rush of buyers on Rashid Minhas Road as possible reasons for the traffic mess in the city.

There was bumper-to-bumper traffic on the main roads as motorists and commuters remained struck in their vehicles for hours. With their patience running thin, the motorists said that traffic snarls have become a daily occurrence in the city due to the ongoing development works, road closures, demonstrations, protests, etc. They also blamed encroachments on roads and illegal rickshaw stands for the situation. This situation persisted late into the night before traffic flow was gradually restored on some roads.

Motorists and commuters allege that the traffic police seem interested more in issuing tickets than managing traffic flow on the city roads. They call upon the chief minister to take notice of the situation and order remedial measures.

Power protest causes logjam on Sharae Faisal

Electricity consumers staged a demonstration on Sharae Faisal on Saturday to protest against a "three-day-long outage" in the Abyssinia Lines.

The demo disrupted traffic flow on the Sharae Faisal, with the FTC Bridge temporarily closed, causing long queues of vehicles and inconvenience to motorists and commuters. The Traffic Police diverted vehicles to alternative routes to ease congestion.

Protesters claimed that the prolonged power outage stemmed from an unresolved dispute. However, K-Electric dismissed these allegations as baseless.

The power outage compounded challenges for residents, including a severe water crisis. Many families are struggling to access drinking water, while there is no water in mosques for ablution. Frustration and anger over the prolonged disruption have grown among the residents.

Protesters demanded immediate restoration of electricity in their area. After negotiations with the administration and police, the protesters dispersed peacefully, and traffic on Sharae Faisal was restored.