Dug up and under-construction roads, footpath grabbing, unruly vehicular traffic and inefficient traffic police are the symbols of Karachi.
Despite repeated claims by Karachi City Government (CDGK), no improvement was seen on city roads. Now the caretaker and the provincial governments are claiming that the situation will improve during the holy month of Ramazan, most likely beginning on October 5.
However, it is generally believed that nothing positive will come out as those who matter in the administration are least bothered about the problems.
Another problem which is haunting the Karachiites is sky-rocketing of prices of essential commodities.
Unlike other countries, especially the Middle Eastern countries where the prices of essential commodities particularly eatables are brought down reasonably, here the consumers are fleeced by traders at will.
As regards traffic problems, people are as usual given lollypop that efforts are being made to give Karachi a new look during the holy month. But the question is how can the traffic congestion on major roads of the city due to long inter-city buses, which are multiplying with each passing day, can be solved in just one week. What have they been doing the whole year?
Despite the long repeated promises of early completion of under-construction roads or bridges, the pace of work remained slow due to the apathy of unconcerned administration.
The Karachiites are fed up with frequent power failures, dirty and contaminated water, causing health hazards, but nothing has been done to mitigate the sufferings of the common man.
Construction work on the road adjacent to Islamia Arts and Commerce College and Dawood Engineering College, was started about two months ago to lay water pipeline, but the process as usual is very slow.
It seems that almost all roads of the city have been dug up without knowing that if the work is not completed in time it will multiply the problems of the citizens.
Thanks to the limited rains during the monsoon season, which lessened pollution problem to a certain level, but after that the smoke-emitting vehicles, especially auto-rickshaws, coaches, minibuses and buses have removed the healthy impact of short-lived rains.
Beggary is another big problem, which is also on the rise due to rising trend in the unemployment rate and influx of population from upcountry.
Recently, the Provincial Home Minister issued directives for taking action against violation of ban on parking during peak hours, the traffic signals and overtaking. But it was observed that all warnings and precautionary measures went almost unheeded. During the Ramazan everyone wants to reach his home before the Iftar time, but it is generally seen that the people break their fast during journey.
Ramazan or no Ramazam, Karachi needs preparation of a plan on war-footing to tackle the menace of traffic jams, violation of traffic rules and regulation and other civic problems. These lingering problems have made the life of Karachiites miserable.
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