Clifton flyover: Citizens, religious parties, civil society continue protests

Demand that the work on the projects may immediately be restored.

KARACHI:

The citizens of Karachi, religious parties and civil society continued their protest on the third consecutive day against the halting of construction work on flyover and underpasses in Clifton.

A large number of women and children also took part in the protest. They said the project was vital for the city, which has been facing traffic problems for the last many decades. The protestors said no one could be allowed to put the future of the city at stake for personal interest.

They demanded that there should be no politics on the public infrastructures and development and progress of the country. If such extreme discouragement and open violation of all the codes continued, no investor will even think of investing money in public development, they said.

The demonstrators appealed to the people at the helm to immediately restore construction work on the Clifton flyover and the underpasses so that the projects might be completed before Ramazan and the citizens might get relief.

Due to the stalled work, the access to Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine has become extremely difficult and the devotees demand immediate removal of the hurdles on the construction work.

Earlier the project site was raided and construction manager Aslam was taken into custody from his office despite the fact that there was no construction work going on. He was released after four hours of illegal confinement.

The members of civil society and residents of Karachi say the project is in the great interest of the residents of Karachi and it will benefit the present as well as the coming generations.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2014.