Traffic congestion hits trade activities

Rising traffic volume on the city's roads has badly disturbed trade and business activities in markets particularly in the old city area, as vehicular gridlocks hamper goods transportation now on a regular basis, traders said on Monday. During a visit to the old city markets, traders told Business Recorder that the concerned authorities have turned a blind eye to the rising issue of traffic jams, which has emerged because of roadside parking of hundreds of cars.
The effected roads included M A Jinnah Road, Shahra-e-Liaquat and Nishtar Road, while Burns Road also shifted its traffic volume to those roads especially in the evening hours, they said. Traffic moves disorderly in the old city area, while car parking has badly hit cargo transportation and trade activities in markets there, they said, adding the traffic and civic authorities were indifferent to the problem.
"It is now very difficult for visiting buyers to make some purchases as traffic movement on some roads have become two-way," they said, adding that roadside stalls and push-cart goods sellers were also contributing to the traffic jams. They said the stalls, which had encroached over the roads, left these roads half for traffic movement. They said the traffic disorder on key roads of the city was still unnoticed by the government while traders were facing problems because of gridlocks.
They said the distance of minutes was now being travelled in hours as unannounced both ways traffic created the worst trend of traffic chaos, adding that despite complaints with civic and traffic officials, the issue of traffic chaos continued to rise. Traders demanded of the government to provide car parking facilities to public so that the volume of traffic on roads could scale down and the traders could get a sigh of relief. They said the government should step up on immediate basis to solve the issue.