KARACHI, Feb 23: City witnessed worst traffic chaos on Thursday on various roads and thoroughfares in the downtown forcing motorists, motorcyclists, and commuters in public transport to remain trapped in the deluge of vehicles for hours.

Police and law-enforcement agencies blocked several roads for vehicular movement during the busy hours in the afternoon to give way for processions taken out from different locations by the Pakistan People’s Party, Jamiat Ulema Islam and the Imamia Students Organization.

The processions were taken out in protest against the publication of blasphemous cartoons in western press and against the bomb attack on the shrine of Imam Hasan Askari in Iraq.

The town administration and police, without keeping in view the sufferings usually caused to motorists, commuters and area people in such a situation, allowed all the three processions to be taken out simultaneously which ultimately resulted in a massive traffic mess.

The police had blocked a portion of the M. A. Jinnah Road and diverted the traffic coming from the Merewether Tower towards the Garden area. This caused disruption in the flow of vehicles, which were stuck up in various streets. The impact of the congestion was felt on Burnes Road, I. I. Chundrigar Road, M. R. Kiyani Road, Deen Mohammad Wafai Road, Lucky Star, etc. The traffic congestion had an impact on Sharea Faisal, as well as its link roads and streets, as the traffic police were unable to control the traffic movement.

The new traffic policy imposed on Feb 20 has caused an additional load of heavy transport on the already crowded M. A. Jinnah Road and the processions on Thursday aggravated the situation. The load of cars has added to the congestion on I. I. Chundrigar Road and the traffic coming from Tower on this artery was choked at the traffic signal of Shaheen Complex as the road has become narrower due to the digging, for a dual carriageway, on both of its sides.

The traffic coming towards downtown from Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Sohrab Goth and North Karachi was diverted either to Nishter Road or Sharea Faisal. Due to the overcrowding on Nishter Road, vehicles kept moving at a snail’s pace during the day and the situation was worst in Soldier Bazaar.

One of the processions was stopped at Fawara Chowk on Abdullah Haroon Road and the road leading to Saddar was closed. The traffic coming from Clifton was not allowed to proceed to Abdullah Haroon Road and was diverted either towards Club Road and Sharea Faisal. The situation around Metropole Hotel was unbearable as the vehicles were stuck up bumper-to-bumper.

As the traffic was being manually operated, vehicles kept on moving at a snail’s pace and traffic police officials were unable to clear the mess. The attitude of drivers was equally responsible for the chaos as their impatient and intolerant behaviour contributed a lot to the deterioration. Most of the drivers of cars, motorcycles and public transport were seen violating traffic signals openly and the traffic police officials kept on watching them helplessly.

The situation aggravated further in the evening when people came out of their offices and workplaces to return home.

The traffic congestion was not confined to downtown areas, but it was witnessed on S. M. Taufeeq Road (Liaquatabad), Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Rashid Minhas Road, University Road near Safari Park, all around Sohrab Goth intersection and other localities.

Sources said that many of the traffic police vehicles were lying in workshop and those available for mobility of the traffic police were not entirely fit to drive. Besides, the fuel for traffic vehicles and motorcycles was not available due to scarcity of funds. The sources said that plenty of funds was available with the high-ups but could not be released to the lower level and hushed up in between.

Police sources said that the traffic police officials had half-heartedly performed their duty, as their official needs were not fulfilled. It was one of the major factors of the traffic chaos witnessed quite frequently. The sources said that the SP of each traffic zone was responsible for repairing and managing the logistics of his force but he appeared to be least concerned about discharging his duties and would prefer to shift his responsibility to his next subordinate officers, the DSPs.

They said it was an unofficial understanding that each traffic section would generate money from people for meeting the expenses of fuel and repairing of the police vehicles.