Worst roadblocks on busiest routes

Mugging rampant in traffic jams on broken roads

It never rains but it pours. The proverbial truth stands more valid and quite relevant for the people of Karachi who have to grapple every day with a kind of disaster scattered all over the place – rain or no rain.

The fact that the onset of torrential rains in Karachi brings no blessings other than heaps of calamities and destruction has now become a time-tested axiom. However, despite a badly-needed interlude of rain, the city finds itself in more mayhem and havoc the very next day after the rain, as commuters are welcomed with a day-after ordeal in the shape of dilapidated infrastructure, roads filled with potholes, uneven surfaces and broken curbs, water-logging and manholes erupting tonnes of sewage sludge. The traffic snarls at every corner of the busy thoroughfares, to make matters worse.

As things currently stand, over a kilometre stretch of the Korangi Causeway, near the Korangi Crossing, has been closed off, for traffic after the torrential rains, which caused havoc in the city. Since the busiest road was already on the verge of complete collapse, owing to the sheer negligence of the concerned departments, dozens of potholes have turned into wide, deep ponds, making it impassable for commuters to ply the road.

Due to rainwater pooling at the Korangi Crossing, traffic has temporarily been diverted towards the alternate route, which has severely disrupted the traffic movement of the entire area, and commuters now find themselves stuck on the road for hours. The Qayyumabad Chowrangi towards the Baloch Colony flyover, through the expressway also remained completely inundated with rainwater for quite some time, and the traffic movement was at a standstill for hours.

The commuters are now being diverted to other routes, resulting in multiple confusion. In detail, due to the closure of the Jam Sadiq Bridge and the Korangi Causeway, there have been severe traffic jams on the surrounding roads. Traffic officials say traffic is very slow due to major road closures and as such, traffic is moving towards Godam Chowrangi, Singer Chowrangi and Chamda Chowrangi. Traffic pressure is very high on these roads.

Commuters have to wait for hours due to which the city reaches gridlock during peak hours. The office-goers and university and college students are left with no option but to reach very late, at times they manage to reach their destinations three to four hours late. This situation is adversely affecting business activity as well as education, the two most important aspects of society.

Here it may be mentioned that the Korangi Causeway is of great strategic significance, as there are several educational institutions and business houses. The area houses several academic institutions like the College of Business Management (IoBM), the Millennium Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship (MITE), the SSAT Degree College and University and many other prominent institutions. The Korangi Creek Industrial Park, housing a large number of industries, is also located in the area. As such the shaky movement of the heavily-loaded vehicles carrying factory goods, on the bumpy road on Godam Chowrangi and Chamda Chowrangi also poses a great threat to commuters, plying the adjacent roads because of no options.

Zainab Shafique is a student of IoBM, she looked angry when asked about the traffic situation after the rain, “rains are not unprecedented, as such spells in monsoon are now regular. The causeway gets flooded every year, and still, we see no management. There is no fencing on the road, and when the river overflows you can’t identify where the road ends. The condition of the roads, around the Jam Sadiq Bridge is so bad, that the flow of traffic is greatly affected. There are many incidents of snatching in this area when vehicles slow down on the broken roads. No traffic police or security guards are seen for several miles. Despite being an industrial area, no arrangements are made here.”

It is pertinent to mention here that a station house officer (SHO) was removed in February. Directives were issued for a permanent deployment of two police mobiles at street crime hotspots, on the main Korangi Causeway, as a group of robbers looted over 100 people in the area in just one night, in what was being termed the biggest street crime incident of the year so far.

Over a hundred passengers were robbed during a traffic jam on the route that night, triggering an outcry on social media. Ten to 12 robbers reportedly set up roadblocks, to trap vehicles and proceeded to rob people with relative ease; and appeared to not be afraid of police and rangers. According to the citizens caught in the roadblock, they had phoned the police helpline, but they could not reach the location on time. Moreover, the police not only denied the incident but also failed to register an FIR.

Muhammad Hussain works in the Korangi Industrial area, he explained that after the rains, the traffic situation worsens, and it happens every year. “Due to water flow in Malir river and Korangi river, the roads coming from both sides are closed for traffic, which causes a lot of traffic pressure on Jam Sadiq Bridge.” He added that “due to the lack of administration, neither the flow could be improved, rather, it became more chaotic”. “Every year in the rainy season we face similar problems, but no measures are taken by the Sindh government and no emergency plan is prepared”.

While taking the Godam Chowrangi route on the way to his office, this scribe could not find any deployment of police mobiles as promised by the law enforcement authorities. While taking the same route home, he could see the fear of being robbed on the faces of the commuters. A co-worker also confirmed that it took her almost three hours to reach home at night, whereas during normal days it takes less than an hour. And above all the entire journey was passed in fear of getting robbed.

Maria Aziz is a government employee, she had the same ordeal, she complained about the state of roads. “The roads in the industrial zone are in the worst condition. The potholes are waterlogged at places causing chaotic traffic system. The lack of attention of the government has aggravated the problems.”

Unfortunately, despite the well-in-advance alert mechanism in place, the city government failed to make preventive arrangements. Though the Sindh chief minister was repeatedly shown visiting various affected areas of the city, during and after the rain, the ground reality is quite the opposite.

The administrator also said that he and all his relevant officers were out on the roads, and the process of draining rainwater was well underway. He said that the rainwater was flowing in all the major canals, and possible measures were being taken for smooth drainage. He also directed the officials of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation to ensure immediate drainage of rainwater accumulated on roads. But many roads were still submerged in water.

Ahsan Khan also lamented the dilapidated conditions of the road, his office is at Korangi Crossing. “Due to lack of maintenance, there are big potholes on the roads due to which the flow of traffic is very slow and half an hour journey has become two to three hours”.

The city planners however believe that unless and until the potholes are removed, and the roads are re-carpeted, pumping out the rainwater will not serve the purpose. While the great Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz didn’t mind dying if he had to die once, the citizens of Karachi suffer every moment of their lives from the sins they have never committed.

photo: athar khan/Bol News