IT was the holy month of Ramazan and, as is often the case, rates of commodities had gone up. On Sept 23, 1974 it was reported that the prices of almost all fresh fruit and many other eatables served at the iftar table continued to be on the higher side on the fifth day of Ramazan (Sept 22). While all the items recorded an average increase of 20 per cent, bananas were particular costly. Traders claimed it was due to the abrupt decline in the daily supply over the pre-Ramazan period. Consequently, bananas of average quality were quoted at about Rs2.50 a dozen as against the pre-Ramazan average of Rs1.25 and Rs1.75 during the first two days of the holy month. Fruit dealers maintained that the rates were high because winter crop had not yet reached the local market and the stock of summer fruit was fast shrinking.

Speaking of numbers (big ones, at that), the same day, Sept 23, another piece of information made the headlines: in the month of October, the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) would hold the final round of talks with the World Bank in connection with the promised loan of Rs100m to transform Lyari into a modern township. The KMC was allowed by the government to approach the bank for the loan to finance its various ongoing and proposed projects — worth Rs500m — in Karachi’s oldest slum with a population of over 500,000. Three rounds of discussions had already taken place between the World Bank and top KMC official in the last six months.

On Sept 24, a number featured in another report but not in a good way. The police arrested 34 drivers and conductors of min-buses because they had parked their vehicles with the intention of blocking the flow of traffic on Bunder Road (now M A Jinnah Road). They were protesting against the Regional Transport Authority’s (RTA) campaign to check overcrowding and having extra seats on the buses. Nearly 300 minibuses blocked entry into Bunder Road from all sides in the two-furlong section near Quaid-i-Azam’s mausoleum causing serious traffic dislocation during peak hours. The vehicles started converging around the Old Exhibition (Purani Numaish) roundabout at 9am and were removed by the police at 12 noon.

The next day, all the 400 plus mini-buses remained off the roads for a second day in protest against the RTA drive to curb overcrowding and fixing of extra seats. To mitigate the passengers’ suffering, the Sindh Road Transport Corporation countered the move by bringing in 30 omnibuses. They continued to run nonstop from early morning till midnight. Simultaneously, the secretary of the RTA issued a warning to the minibus operators to immediately bring their vehicles back on the roads to avoid cancellation of their route permits. The warning drew the operators’ attention to the Motor Vehicles Ordinance whereby it was obligatory on the part of the owners to keep the vehicles running.

On Sept 26, 14 new routes for mini-buses and omnibuses were proposed by the Master Plan Department at a meeting of the RTA held under the chairmanship of Karachi Commissioner Parvez Ahmed Butt. It asked the department to carry out a detailed survey to assess the demand for parking spaces and to suggest within two weeks the ways and means for removing traffic congestion.

Doesn’t it sound all too familiar?

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2024