KARACHI: The city is facing crippling traffic jams for over a decade now as there is no respite from such woes despite the construction of many flyovers and signals free roads.
Despite a multitude of reasons, the state of affairs in Karachi has not been able to get better largely due to the non-professional attitude of the police, non-seriousness of politicians, lack of coordination among relevant organisations and relevant departments, mismanagement and lack of civic sense.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and City District government seem to be least concerned about reducing traffic problems in Karachi due to a serious lack of political will.
Sindh Transport Minister Nasir Shah has always claimed on different occasions that his government would start Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) and bring 600 green buses on the roads of Karachi soon, but such claims have largely been achieved so far.
Instead of fixing the traffic problems, politicians hold rallies and public gatherings which in turn results in the blockade of roads causing commuters disturbance and annoyance.
The non-professional attitude of traffic police, shortage of underpasses, bridges, roads, scarcity of buses and encroachments along the road also create severe traffic jams.
However, that is one side of the story. On the other hand, citizens also often do not abide by the traffic laws and do not co-operate with traffic police.
Billions of rupees were spent by the PPP government over the past many years in an attempt to better the road and traffic system, the authorities could not properly utilize the financial resources in a proper way which also resulted into many of the problems the people of Karachi face today.
Karachi’s district government has a fair share of contribution in exacerbating the situation as major traffic jams occur in Saddar, Landhi, Liaquatabad, Gurumandir, Lasbella, Teen Hatti, Lyari, Nazimabad No.7, Gulbai, II Chundrigar Road, Teen Talwar, Main Tariq Road, Numaish, MA Jinnah Road, Korangi No.10 and at Shara-e-Faisal.
Traffic jams in various areas of the city cause citizens hardships, and due to the heavy traffic, people face many diseases like asthma and cancer since it causes pollution in the city, making Karachi one of the most polluted cities of the world.
Sometimes, patients lose their lives because they are not able to reach hospitals on time due to the heavy traffic jams. The students also face traffic problems in Karachi as they also cannot reach their educational institutions on time.
The traffic problems can be resolved by constructing wide roads and more flyovers and underpasses. Today, Karachi can get rid of these woes, if all stakeholders play their due role in the development of the city and cooperate with the government to address the traffic problems.
