Where have all the Karachi buses gone, SC asks mayor

KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday took notice of lack of public transport in the city and inquired from mayor Karachi where all the buses had gone which were inaugurated to ply in the city some years ago.

Hearing petitions against illegal encroachments on public parks, amenity lands, revival of Karachi Circular Railways and unauthorized multi-storeyed buildings in Karachi, the SC’s three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, observed that public transport was nowhere in the city. The court inquired as to where all such buses had gone, which were inaugurated in a ceremony by the city administration some years back.

Former Administrator Karachi Faheemuz Zaman informed the court that some of the buses were given to private contractors while the rest of them were in dilapidated condition at KMC junkyards and workshops.

Justice Gulzar Ahmed observed that once double decker buses were plying in the city but later the transport company was handed over to a private person, who removed the public transport from the city.

Regarding the execution of Green Line Bus project by the Karachi Infrastructure Development Company, the court observed that only allocation of bus lane could be enough for plying the Green Line buses in the city instead of making separate infrastructure for the project. The court directed the Sindh government to mark zebra crossings at the roads for pedestrians. The court took notice of dilapidated condition of roads in industrial areas of the city and observed it was the responsibility of the government to give infrastructure to industrial areas to promote trade activities. The court deplored that entire business activities were confined to selling imported and smuggled items in the market instead of promoting the country-made products.