Adil Siddiqui, Sindh Transport Minister for Transport, has asked the DIG Traffic to eliminate indiscipline and the waywardness of the transporters that has taken the hapless commuters hostage. It is too early to predict about the steps taken by DIG Traffic for taming the wild, untrimmed drivers and conductors of the public transport buses.
If one is candid one can say that there is nothing in the city that can be termed as 'Transport System'. It is a Mafia of rag-tag conductors and drivers who are shabbily dressed and talk with as much discourtesy as one could expect from such untrained and ungroomed people.
The transport system, if one is generous to term it, is mainly a fleet of old, rickety and smoke-emanating minibuses and buses. They stuff the passengers inside their cramped seats and narrow aisles and then push them out in the middle of the roads, roundabouts and on the intersections of the always busy roads. It may be just luck of the passengers and some rare commodity compassion on the part of the motorists that they reach their destinations 'in one piece'. Most of the drivers are recruited directly from the rural areas of NWFP or Punjab and they are unaware and do not care about traffic rules. It is a common sight that these minibuses and the buses change lanes frequently and overtake other vehicles with their pressure horns blaring constantly.
The smoke from the rickshaws, buses, minibuses and other vehicles leaves a trail of thick black smoke. People are choked with it and the pulmonary diseases are on the rise. Their lungs are getting more and more carbon dioxide every day and the hearing of the common citizen is impaired from the noise pollution.
The traffic police, some dressed smartly while others are conspicuous by their bulging bellies and their trousers inching downwards every minute, are more concerned with catching some small fish to grease their palms. It seems that they have not been taught the basic tenets of traffic laws and they are unaware of what is passing under their nose. If these are the people in the disposal of the respected DIG Traffic then one can hope and pray to Allah to show some mercy to him so as some miracle happens in one-month time.
A new phenomenon is also happening on the city roads. Cars with Sindh Police number plates rush past other cars: their sirens constantly reminding the people that this car should be given the whole road as right of way. The government servants have become masters. A change of role, indeed, in the society! It seems a far-fetched idea that those sitting in these air-conditioned cars would have any reason to see the transport system becoming docile and comfortable to the public. After all, they do not feel the pinch in this horrible transport scenario.
The commuters will also have to change their attitude while they board or get down from the public transport. They should understand and start using available bus stops and do not get down or board the buses at 'wrong' places, especially not in the middle of the roads. They should also show some sort of consumerism as they are also part of the 'transport system' and have their voice as well as obligations.
One could wish well for the DIG, Traffic, and keep fingers crossed till some positive changes happen to take place in the current gloomy environment.