Baqar orders removal of all bottlenecks to ensure smooth traffic flow

Sindh Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar while presiding over a meeting on the traffic issues in Karachi on Saturday directed the city’s commissioner and police to start a vigorous crackdown on the illegal parking zones in the city and prosecute the culprits involved in the racket.

He ordered that from now onwards, no agency would designate any parking slot without consultation with the traffic police.

The CM said there were different agencies involved in creating traffic problems in the city, and he had called a joint meeting of the Karachi police, traffic police, traffic engineering bureau and Sindh Environmental Protection Authority (Sepa) to resolve these issues.

The meeting was attended by Interim Home Minister Brig (retd) Haris Nawaz, Tourism and Environment Minister Arshad Wali Mohammad, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, Home Secretary Iqbal Memon, Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Riffat Mukhtar, Additional IG Karachi Khadim Rind, Karachi Commissioner Saleem Rajput, Transport Secretary Asad Zamin, DIG Traffic Iqbal Dara, DIG Driving Licence Irfan Baloch, Sepa Director General Waris Gabol, Traffic Engineering Director Tariq Raffi and others.

The traffic DIG briefed the CM on the overall traffic police strength and the reasons behind traffic congestion in the city.

He said the traffic police had a total strength of 9,077 personnel, against which 6,699 were working which showed a shortfall of 26.1 per cent or 2,378 policemen.

The CM was told that the city had a network of 9,500-kilometre-long roads where around 6.5 million vehicles, including 4,054,546 motorcycles travelled.

Approximately 350,000 new vehicles were registered every year in the city and around 65,000 rickshaws with extra seats were running in the city on illegal routes. During 2023, around 1.62 million tickets were issued for violation of traffic laws, against which Rs836.12 million fine was recovered, the meeting was told. It was pointed out that with the induction of more mass transit systems like the Green and Orange lines, the traffic issues would be resolved.

The issue of traffic jams at and around University Road was the result of prolonged delays in the completion of the ongoing Red Line corridor, the meeting was told.

The CM was told that the movement of heavy traffic was restricted in the city area during the daytime from 6am till 11pm. The DIG said there was a dire need to promulgate the Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on the movement of heavy traffic in the city during day hours except the vehicles carrying essential commodities. It was pointed out that the solution to the traffic challenges in the city may lie in the initiation of the projects like the Mauripur Expressway and the redesigning of the Lyari Expressway for the movement of heavy transport.

To this, the mayor said the Lyari Expressway was designed and built for heavy traffic, and this fact had been endorsed by its consultant in writing. Wahab added that only the National Highway Authority had objected to this point, otherwise, this issue had been resolved and heavy traffic should be allowed on the Lyari Expressway.

The CM constituted a committee under the mayor with the traffic DIG, Karachi Development Authority Director General and others as its members, and told them to sit together and resolve the issues so that the Lyari Expressway could be opened for heavy traffic.

The traffic DIG said that in order to ensure the smooth flow of traffic in the city, the upward ramp of the Liaquatabad Flyover towards Karimabad in front of Al-Karam Square needed to be widened. He added that Shahrah-e-Usman Rimzi in front of the Siddiq-e-Akbar Masjid at Nagan Chowrangi had become narrow due to the Green Line station, therefore the width of footpaths needed to be reduced.

Similarly, 11 bottlenecks were identified that could be rectified. The CM directed the mayor to personally visit the bottlenecks and resolve the traffic issue.

Another reason for traffic congestion identified by the traffic police was encroachments for which the CM directed the Karachi commissioner to remove the encroachments.

The CM directed the environment minister to activate Sepa to impound the smoke-emitting vehicles. He directed the IGP to provide the police force to Sepa for the purpose.

Charged parking

The traffic police pointed out the presence of many unauthorised charged parking zones in the city. The mayor said the KMC had 25 charged parking areas while 25 towns of the city also had charged parking spaces in their areas. The IGP said the traffic police were not being consulted while designating a charged parking area.

To this, the CM directed all the civic agencies, including the cantonments to consult the traffic police before designating any charged-parking area. He directed his secretary to issue this directive to all the civic agencies.

Justice (retd) Baqar also directed the commissioner to start a crackdown on the illegal parking areas and prosecute the accused involved in this racket.

The CM was told that there were 91 signals in the city government’s jurisdiction, of which only 30 were functional and 61 were out of order. The cantonment board areas had 44 signals, of which 33 were working. To this, the CM directed the traffic engineering bureau to get all its signals repaired and suggest installation of more signals, if needed.