Evening traffic restrictions on Burns Road food street irk SHC

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday directed the traffic police chief to submit a traffic diversion plan showing how many roads have been blocked due to the Burnes Road food street.

Hearing a petition against the closure of Burnes Road during the evening hours due to the food street, an SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar asked the provincial law officer why the road is closed after 7pm.

The bench also asked the law officer why an alternative mechanism had not been evolved before the issuance of the order to block roads after 7pm. The court said that the food street could be made an open space to facilitate all the people, adding that the food street had been running for the past many years but the roads had never been blocked for it before.

The petitioner’s counsel said that an elderly woman had died due to the evening traffic restrictions on Burnes Road after she could not be provided with emergency medical relief. The bench directed the law officer to call the additional deputy commissioner of District South because no comments have been filed on behalf of the district's deputy commissioner.

The court also directed the traffic police chief to submit a traffic diversion plan showing how many roads have been blocked due to the Burnes Road food street. The bench said that the plan should also show what options are available to the residents for reaching their homes during the daily traffic restrictions between 7pm and 2am. The court directed the law officer to file comments on the petition by March 25.

According to the petition, the residents of the Burnes Road area have been facing extreme difficulties due to the decision of the district administration to block roads between 7pm and 2am for the food street.

The petitioner requested the court to direct the district administration to withdraw the notification with regard to the closure of roads so that the residents and other people are not denied access.