KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has directed the Traffic DIG to submit an explanation as to why heavy transport vehicles (HTVs) were allowed to ply the metropolis roads in defiance of its restraining orders.
A two-judge bench headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar gave this direction while hearing a petition filed by Faisal Bangali and other citizens against the provincial authorities for their failure to enforce the ban on plying of heavy traffic in the daytime, initially imposed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The judges expressed their displeasure over the performance of traffic police and asked the DIG under which law the heavy vehicles were allowed to ply the roads of the city. It directed the transport secretary to submit an explanation report in this regard by May 22nd.
During the hearing, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, a representative of the provincial government, Traffic DIG, KPT officials and representative of transporters appeared in the court.
The lawyer for the transporters requested the judges to allow HTVs to accesssome of the roads of the city. The road from Sohrab Goth to Gulshan Chowrangi, Shahrah-e-Faisal to Korangi, Sohrab Goth to Korangi, and Mai Kolachi Bypass to Korangi be permitted to be used by heavy vehicles, he added.
Earlier, the petitioners submitted that they were awfully perturbed by the present situation of traffic in the city, which was deteriorating day by day. They said that the apex court had passed an order directing the DIG and municipal authorities to immediately stop heavy vehicles from plying the roads in daytime to maintain the smooth flow of traffic. The court was further pleaded to order the authority to strictly conduct a test of vehicles using the city roads.
