The pitching idea to solve the national Stadium Issuance
Road closures ahead of matches cause inconvenience to citizens
“Whenever Karachi hosts any cricket match, residents have to face a lot
of problems”
“We acknowledge that blocking roads is necessary for providing security to
players, but the authorities should also pay attention to the issues faced by
citizens”
– Irfan Rasheed Baloch, 2020 (TheNews.PK)
R
ecently, a blog published by
Pakchronicle at January 25, 2021
divulged regarding PMA (Pakistan
Medical Association) requesting the
following suggestion towards authorities to
transpire with appropriate traffic plans that
do not make the lives of public citizens
difficult due to sports activities that are
being held in National Stadium.
Furthermore, the organization proposed to
only close roads at the arrival and departure
of players, hence, stated a press release
issues by Pakistan Medical Association
(PMA) center on 1st February.
University Road and Rashid Minhas Road
which results in heavy traffic jam on both
roads”
The press stated by the PMA is concluded
with the following paragraph;
“Two major hospitals and few smaller
along with isolation center for Covid-19 at
Expo center are located in the area, these
traffic jams will be havoc for the sick people
visiting these health facilities for
emergencies and treatment. Moreover it will
be difficult for doctors and paramedics to
reach their hospitals to serve sick people.
People going to their workplaces and
coming back to their homes have also been
facing hardships due these traffic jams.
Moreover closure of roads around the
stadium increases the traffic flow at
The metropolis had hosted the first Pakistan
Super league (PSL) match at February 20,
Saturday and while people are excited for
the venue, the rest of the city is likely to face
and present a traffic nightmare. To eradicate
and solve this nightmare, the traffic police
issues a diversion plan scheduled to take
place from February 20th to March 7th.
However, on Monday night, relevant
authorities went ahead with closing roads,
causing inconvenience to citizens.
Besides, since only small vehicles are
allowed to travel on the path connecting
Shah-rae-Faisal and Habib Ibrahim
Rehmatullah Road to the National Stadium.
Public transport which also include heavy
vehicles will be restricted on travelling in
this route. The traffic police has requested
citizens for cooperation in order to avoid
inconvenience which furthermore led to
additional issues and one of them is Choked
roads; even though the Traffic police had
addressed a diversion plan, multiple roads in
the vicinity of National stadium were
blocked for traffic as the teams were
participating in PSL 6 as they reached the
cricket ground for net practice, this
consequently resulted into the flow of traffic
being disrupted and diverted towards the
Arterial toad which was led ineffective as
citizens faced inconvenience.
University Road, Jail Chowrangi,
Sharifabad, Kashmir Road, Tariq Road,
Shaheed-e-Millat Road Shah-rae-Faisal,
Tipu-Sultan, Baloch Colony, Gharibabad
and Nipa Chowrangi, among other roads
were heavily affected by the measures taken
to ensure the security and safety of
International Players included within PSL.
A traffic police officer, who asked not to be
named had claimed that “The roads were
closed for traffic by operations police and
not the traffic police” and further states
“The traffic police have nothing to do with
it as their old job is to personnel guide
commuters towards alternative routes”
As for the solution to the major, yearly
persisting issue the Pakistan Medical
Association (PMA) whilst keeping in view
with the public complaint on traffic has
suggested to shift national stadium out of the
city, however it could be inconvenient with
PSL fanatics.
Another pitching idea to consider in order to
solve the national stadium issuance could be
keeping the stadium within the Karachi city,
it can be shifted to an idea where traffic is
significantly less with wide roads in order to
avoid choked roads, a major example that
can be considered could be; shifting the
stadium to DHA (Defense Housing
Authority) as it has been well known for
providing unparalleled living standards in
Pakistan.