Chundrigar Road: no-go area for public transport

KARACHI: Closure of I. I. Chundrigar Road for public transport is resulting in losses to the tune of millions to the national exchequer, and also causing mental and physical torture to thousands of people who have to reach various offices located on this financial hub early in the morning.

The I. I. Chundrigar Road is Karachi’s business hub and houses the Karachi Stock Exchange, Cotton Exchange, head offices and branches of almost all local and foreign banks, including the State Bank, financial and administrative institutions, main railway reservation office and DS office, as well as many government offices. On all working days, public dealing at a massive level is witnessed in the vicinity of this road and the population count remains at peak during day time.

The importance of this road increases owing to the City Railway Station, major newspaper offices, GPO, Telegraph Office and CCPO office also located on this artery. On a normal working day, tens of thousands of people commute between this commercial, business and financial centre and the rest of the Karachi.

Citizens, mostly office-goers, traders and passengers intending to travel to some upcountry destination suffer owing to non-availability of public transport.

It results in waste of many hours on the one hand, and obstruction in the businessman community’s efforts towards growth of national economy, on the other, as time always counts in competing rivals in imports, exports and other trading affairs.

“By the time many importers reach their concerned banks with regard to LCs, they are told that banking time is over,” remarked one, Mr Hasan, who works for a trading firm.

People have no other choice but to use private transport but they reach the desired offices late as they have to cover long distances on foot. Similarly, the staff working for various banks and insurance companies, having their offices located on this important road, face harassment in their offices as they reach offices late after walking long distances.

“Despite paying full travel expenses up to Tower via City Railway Station, commuters traveling by UTS buses and coaches continue to spend extra money on rickshaws and taxis to reach the GPO, the City Railway Station or to any other office located on the road,” maintained a commuter, adding that thousands of people commuting between suburban areas and the city centre have been deprived of direct access to I. I. Chundrigar Road owing to the closure of this road for public transport.

Inquiries revealed that the transport and communications department of the district government had banned entry of public transport buses on I. I. Chundrigar Road in February on the pretext of launching a Rs200 million project for the beautification of the road and avoiding impending traffic jams on the road.

Naib City Nazim Nasreen Jalil had stated in mid-February that the road had been closed for public transport forever for the convenience of businessmen, especially foreigners, visiting regularly the financial and trade institutions located on and around it.

After the closure of buses, a free shuttle service has been introduced, but traveling on this service means sheer waste of time as these buses are available after an interval of 20 to 25 minutes while in case of public transport vehicles, they had to wait for a maximum of five minutes.

Presently, commuters are made to travel in overcrowded shuttle buses even by standing inside the congested coach on the busiest portion of M. A. Jinnah Road between KMC Head Office and Tower where thousands of public transport buses of different routes terminate.

As soon as the diverted public transport buses enter M. A. Jinnah Road near KMC Head Office and city courts, traffic starts moving at a snail’s pace owing to massive business activity going on at this portion of the road.

Boulton Market, Juna Market, Electronics Market, besides wholesale and retail markets of various other commodities are located here and it almost becomes impossible for office-goers to stay seated in buses stuck in traffic snarls.

So many people disembark from buses and start walking on footpath, ultimately suffering delays and many face the risk of being hit by rashly driven vehicles.This problem is being faced by those who want to travel on the posterior portion of Chundrigar Road (after GPO), but those who want to reach Chundrigar Road’s anterior section, it becomes more difficult as buses drop them at Arts Council Roundabout, leaving them to walk up to Jang Press via Shaheen Complex. This walk is also risky as they have to cross the roundabout at Shaheen Complex and then to proceed towards Chundrigar Road.

According to the original rerouting map published in newspapers, and the notification issued by the transport and communications department, all sorts of public transport buses have been denied access to Chundrigar Road and these are to join S. M. Law College road from Shaheen Complex Roundabout, but the traffic police started diverting the UTS 12 and 9, metrobus and the 1C and 8-A buses right from the Arts Council roundabout towards Din Mohammad Wafai Road on the orders of the DIG Traffic, violating the spirit of the original plan.

Inquiries further revealed that no public objections were invited by the city district government prior to introducing the scheme.

There was a general impression that the bus-free plan had been imposed allegedly on the insistence of State Bank authorities. If it was correct, the authorities must have forgotten that such a decision may cause this much misery to tens of thousands of commuters who travel in various public transport buses to reach their offices located on and around I. I. Chundrigar Road.

City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal had also endorsed the decision that the road should be declared bus-free but ignored the decency of inviting public objections prior to taking such a cruel decision.

To the surprise of many, not a single NGO or community-based organisation has resisted the decision so far, and no suit was filed on this violation of basic right of commuters.

“In any civilised country, importance is given to commuters of public transport means because too many cars on a single roads would create traffic jam while a single bus carrying over 100 people would not cause any traffic congestion,” said a commuter

“There is no rationale behind banning the entry of public transport vehicle… such things happen nowhere… public transport is given preference over private transport in many countries, said another commuter, adding: “But in our country, the situation is the opposite as the city nazim has been quoted to have said that if people develop a habit of walking, they would soon become accustomed to it. Now when several months have elapsed, the people have been criticising the decision of the city government as they have started reaching their offices late which ultimately makes a negative impression on their performance,” said a dejected employee of a private firm.

“Authorities at the helm of the affairs are not aware of the role of common man in the progress of society. Those having their own transport can reach anywhere by covering a long distance, but a commuter traveling in an overcrowded bus has no choice,” said a commuter.

Many people said that now when the free shuttle service has failed to come up to the expectations of commuters, there is again a need for the restoration of the previous scheme of transport on Chundrigar Road as thousands of people have to walk or pay exorbitant fares of rickshaw and taxi to avoid delays in reaching their destination somewhere on this road.