SHC tells govt to specify three routes for heavy traffic in Karachi

The Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered the relevant authorities on Tuesday to specify three routes for the passage of heavy traffic in Karachi.

On March 31 the provincial government had barred the entry of heavy vehicles in the city from 6am to 11pm.

The restriction was imposed on an order of the high court, which had observed that heavy traffic had been claiming more lives than terrorism in the metropolis.

The ban, which lasted over a month, prompted a 10-day strike by goods transporters, who eventually called it off on May 17.

Issuing a verdict in the heavy traffic case on Tuesday, the high court allowed the plying of heavy traffic on three routes to be specified in the city.

Heavy vehicles, after the implementation of the court order, would be able to move on routes from the Super Highway to New Karachi Industrial Area, from the National Highway to the Jam Sadiq Bridge and from the Northern Bypass to the Karachi Port.

The SHC also ordered the provincial police chief and the Karachi traffic’s deputy inspector general to make the plying of heavy vehicles on the specified routes possible.

Water and oil tankers as well as carriers of daily-use goods are exempted from the restriction.

Earlier, the government submitted a report on the implementation of a court order. The report stated that oil tankers in the city could be moved to the Zulfikarabad oil terminal.

According to the report, the Sindh Borad of Revenue, the office of member of land utilisation and the home department had been directed to send a joint summary about designated entry points for heavy traffic in the city.

The government, in its report, said entry points would be announced, and police and bomb disposal squad officials would also be deployed on those points to thoroughly check all vehicles.

On May 17 the government had moved the apex court against the high court ban after the 10-day strike by goods transporters had paralysed the Karachi port.

The strike had disrupted the arrival of vessels.

On the same day, the Governor House in a brief statement had said the transporters called off the strike following talks with Governor Mohammed Zubair. “The Sindh governor has thanked all the transporters and their representative bodies who agreed to call off the strike. He hoped that the transport operation would resolve the crisis at the ports and container terminals in the next few hours,” it had said.