KARACHI: Thousands stranded as traffic grinds to a halt
By S. Raza Hassan
KARACHI, June 2: Several thousand people had to spend much of the day in or around their vehicles amid hot and humid weather conditions due to an unprecedented traffic mess created mainly by a rally, held outside the Karachi Press Club, on Friday.
The trouble started soon after the Juma prayers when the local administration, through police, started blocking different roads to vehicular traffic to facilitate the rally, organised by the Pakhtoon Action Committee (Loya Jirga) in protest against the alleged injustices with rickshaw and taxi operators, as well as the settlers being rendered homeless due to the government’s ongoing anti-encroachment campaign.
The traffic mess started aggravating when the participants of the rally, starting their march from Lasbella Chowk, passed through different routes. The entire transport system in downtown areas came to a grinding halt at about 3:30pm when the protesters, riding rickshaws and taxis, as well as other vehicles, converged on the Karachi Press Club, venue of their demonstration.
Several other rallies, held in different parts of the city, added to the traffic chaos and at one stage, Saddar, Burnes Road, M. A Jinnah Road, I.I. Chundrigar Road and all other arteries in the downtown areas remained packed to their capacity with public and private vehicles. The clogging of roads continued for more than six hours, till 9:30pm. Most of the stranded vehicles could find no chance to move on, forcing their occupants to endure the suffocating heat for hours. Women, small children and patients among them were the worst sufferers.
The writ of the government was visible only at the small stretch of the road, in front of the Governor’s House, which was cordoned off by police.
Getting frustrated, people abandoned their vehicles to stretch their legs.
Unlike motorists, motorcyclists often find their way out even amid the worst traffic jams, but on Friday evening, hundreds of motorcyclists returning from their offices were seen stranded, helplessly waiting for the demonstration to terminate and clear their way. However, some of them not having lost hope, were seen moving along the pavements to escape the clogging.
Standing along with one of his colleagues, an executive of some private company was cursing himself for having left the office, “If I had an idea of such a mess, I would have preferred to stay on in the office,” he said.
Small children, perspiring in the hot and humid weather were among the worst sufferers and some of them had their clothes taken off by their parents.
Air-conditioners of the most of the well-equipped cars stopped functioning due to the vehicles remaining unmoved for a long duration forcing their occupants to join in the those who had already abandoned their vehicles.
Running out of fuel added to the miseries of quite a large number of motorists. Apprehending a law and order situation, operators of most of the petrol pumps in the downtown areas had close down their business, only to aggravate the problem.
Markets and shops in Saddar area started closing down ahead of the normal closing time as traders feared reaction to the situation amid mounting resentment among the stranded people.
A negligible number of the traffic police personnel was seen trying to help out stranded people at major intersections of Shaheen Complex, PIDC and Metropole, but had to stop intervening in the unmanageable deluge of vehicles.
Students appearing in the HSC examination at the Government Commerce College on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road and Bahria College on M.T. Khan Road faced great hardship in going back to their homes.
KARACHI, June 2: Several thousand people had to spend much of the day in or around their vehicles amid hot and humid weather conditions due to an unprecedented traffic mess created mainly by a rally, held outside the Karachi Press Club, on Friday.
