Administration dragging feet to shift illegal bus terminals

Karachi:Administration is dragging feet to shift illegal intra-city bus terminals from busy residential and commercial areas to the officially designated bus terminals, as some influential quarters are backing the private transporters involved in running unauthorized bus terminals in the megacity.

Dozens of illegal bus terminals operating from Saddar Karachi for upcountry destinations like Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan, Quetta, Manshera, Peshawar and for almost every town and city of Sindh province is not only a glaring failure of the provincial administrations but also a nuisance for general public.

The government decades back had decided to shift all intra-city bus terminals from the limits of the megacity and also established two big modern bus terminals, one each at the Superhighway near Suhrab Goth and other at Yusuf Goth RCD Highway. These both terminals are fully operational, but the government of Sindh despite this has failed to practically shift the illegal bus terminals operating from Saddar, Karachi. This is not only a wastage of public money on construction of new bus terminals but it is also a blemish on the face of administration of Sindh which is now powerful enough to implement the writ of law and get stopped illegal operations of these bus terminals in city limits, especially in Saddar area of district South, where they cause most noise and air pollution, not to speak of crippling traffic jams.

Citizen rights forums have already suggested banning entry of all sorts of intra-city buses in the limits of the city. These buses should be stopped outside the city limits at Superhighway Suhrab Goth and Yusuf Goth RCD Highway and in case of the National Highway they should not be allowed to enter the city beyond Ghaghar railway crossing. However, the provincial government is still not ready to ban the entry of the intra-city buses in residential limits of the city. Moreover, it is not ready to shift the illegal intra-bus terminals from Saddar and other city areas. This is why many citizen rights campaigners allege that the provincial government of Sindh, especially its transport, police and traffic police departments are providing full shelter and backing to these illegal intra-city bus terminals of megacity Karachi.

Citizens have requested the Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Director General, Pakistan Rangers Sindh, Major General Omer Ahmed Bokhari, Sindh Transport Minister Syed Awais Qadir Shah, Sindh chief secretary Syed Mumtaz Shah, IGP Sindh Dr Syed Kaleem Imam, Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhter, Commissioner Karachi Iftikhar Shallwani, District South Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Salahuddin, and concerned officers of the related Cantonment Board to use their goods offices to get shifted illegal intra-city bus terminals from Saddar Karachi on priority to help in maintenance of proper traffic flow, reduction in air and noise pollution and above all to show their commitment to uphold of law, rules and good governance.

The citizens think that this lingering issue could be easily resolved if our apex courts take a suo-moto notice of this important and genuine public interest issue, which affects millions of commuters and pedestrians of the megacity on daily basis.