With Eid just around the corner, major commercial centres of the twin cities have started experiencing traffic mess as residents throng markets for shopping.
Due to insufficient parking space at the commercial centres, the traffic burden is shifted on roads, causing jams.
The major commercial centres of twin cities including Sadar, Raja Bazar, Commercial Market, G-9 Markaz (Karachi Company), Aabpara Market and other markets, portray the same picture and the situation will worsen as the Eid draws nearer. Motorists can be seen frustrated waiting in queues to get their vehicles parked.
“It is a difficult task to find place for car parking. The parking lots around markets are not spacious enough to cope with heavy influx of vehicles,” said Zohaib Arshad, who was driving around Karachi Company market finding a place for parking on Tuesday night. He said ideally all the shopping malls and plaza should have their own parking arrangements.
Mushtaq Ahmed, who was shopping in Commercial Market, Rawalpindi, said he was fortunate to park his car after half an hour search and that too far away from the market.
Due to rising number of cars theft, one cannot afford to park his car far away from the required shopping area, he said, adding in such a case, one could not even do shopping with peace of mind.
Mostly the shops of children garments and shoes were seen crowded. Besides rush on bangles, henna, jewellery and beauty salons, women were also seen busy in shopping groceries.
“I am searching for a place to park my car for last half an hour but could not get it as the overcrowded markets and stalls setup by shopkeepers left no place for parking,” said Nawaz who had come with his family at Commercial Market.
Every year people face parking problem at Eid but the concerned authorities have not taken any steps to address this problem, another citizen Mateen Zia said.
Commenting on the issue, Bilal, a traffic warden, admitted that there were traffic problems these days, adding that the police were striving to ensure smooth traffic flow. He urged the motorists to obey parking rules as wrong parking was also one of the major reasons for the mess.