KARACHI: Encroachments alongside Karachi-Hyderabad M-9 Motorway and starting point of Lyari Expressway show gross negligence of National Highway Authority (NHA) as well as KMC and traffic police, causing traffic jams and the authorities concerned should take immediate action to remove them, said Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Sunday.
He said that the M-9 area at Suhrab Goth area is a pure mess, showing total failure of the NHA, motorway police, as well as, KMC and local traffic police. He said this area is the gateway to Karachi and it should have displayed the proper face of the megacity but instead it is a jungle of encouragements, causing traffic jams. He said there are shanties and huts, shops of motor mechanics and illegal stands of dumpers and tractors, besides illegal private bus terminals, tea shops, eateries and pushcart vendor markets. Even a traffic police section of Gulzar-e-Hijri has occupied a big portion of land as its compound just at the beginning of the Lyari Expressway.
He said a few years ago, the Sindh High Court had taken notice of the encroachments at Suhrab Goth and ordered to remove them, but the government departments concerned simply ignored the orders of the SHC. Its proof could be seen anytime at the M-9 in Suhrab Goth and nearby areas. He said in fact, the whole stretch of the M-9 from Suhrab Goth to the Jamali Bridge is a heaven of encroachments of transporters, sand and gravel sellers, huts and shanties, shopkeepers and pushcart vendors.
He said ideally this gateway area of the megacity should display a look of civic discipline and order but it looks just opposite. He said during rush hours hundreds of vehicles remain stranded at the Lyari Expressway. He said though traffic police is posted in the area but they are more concerned about bribery than regulating traffic. He said anti- encroachment department dares not entering the area and removing squatters. He said this locality seems a no-go area for law enforcers and city government officials.
He said the concerned district government officers are also least concerned about the grave situation, despite the clear orders of the SHC regarding removal of encroachments from Suhrab Goth area on the Superhighway.
He said sadly sideline roads for non-motorway traffic are incomplete in this area and all sorts of traffic including donkey carts also ply on the main M-9 Motorway in this area, which shows who traffic police and NHA perform their duties or otherwise.
Altaf Shakoor requested the caretaker chief minister Justice Maqbool Baqar and chairman National Highway Authority (NHA) to take a personal notice of the situation and ensure removal of all sorts of encroachments from the sides of the M-9 on permanent basis and ensure that they would not resurface soon after the end of anti-encroachment operations.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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