Management board to resolve Karachi’s traffic woes

KARACHI:

A traffic management board has been set up in Karachi to tackle the city’s traffic woes, Additional Inspector General (AIG) Traffic Khadim Hussain Bhatti said on Sunday. Members of the board include the AIG Traffic himself, the commissioner of Karachi, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) administrator and representatives of other stakeholder organisations.

Talking to the Daily Express, AIG Bhatti said the traffic police have made all necessary preparations to handle the rain emergency in Karachi. He said the government is also being kept up-to-date on the situation.

According to Bhatti, dumping garbage in streets and broken, inundated roads were the main causes of traffic jams. He said the traffic police have compiled a report on this and it will be sent to the commissioner, KMC administrator and other authorities so that a joint strategy can be devised to end traffic problems.

Bhatti said the strategy will be implemented through integrated efforts. He said the traffic police will intimate relevant authorities about the possible traffic jams many days in advance. He added that the lack of parking lots at marriage halls and other similar places also causes traffic jams.

Bhatti said the traffic police have marked many buildings which had parking lots initially as per the legal requirements but now these spaces are being used for other purposes. The managements of these places will soon face legal action.

He requested residents to cooperate with the authorities to avert traffic jams.  He said that strict action will be taken against any traffic police official found harassing any citizen illegally. He said citizens can lodge complaints through email at [e-mail]. He said SMS and WhatsApp services will also be introduced soon.

Bhatti said the charged parking system in the city was also creating traffic jams and, therefore, contracts of 12 such arrangements have been cancelled. NOC from traffic police has been made mandatory for such contracts in the future. He said that in the past the concerned departments were not much cooperative with the traffic police but the traffic management board is expected to improve the situation.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2015.