Karachi caught in a sooty dilemma

Karachi: A three-wheel motor rickshaw, emitting black toxic clouds and an ear-piercing thunderous noise, zooms past a traffic police officer but the driver is not issued any ticket for violating the traffic law.

"I have been directed by my superiors not to stop and issue tickets to motor rickshaw drivers, although they are the biggest culprits of noise and air pollution on the roads of Karachi," said the officer, who wore a flimsy, white mask, which was provided by his department a few months ago to protect him against traffic smoke.

In Karachi the worst traffic laws violators are hardly punished. Private and public transporters often act like an organised mafia This has forced successive governments to not only shelve enforcement of simple traffic laws but also improve the rickety-old public transport system.

The Sindh provincial government had fixed 2007 as the deadline to take more than 30,000 two-stroke motor rickshaws off Karachi roads, but Governor Ishrat-ul Ibad had to change his mind following transporters' protests.

As a result motor rickshaws continue to roar on Karachi roads in 2008 as the government has been forced to fix a new deadline of 2010 to ban them.

Initiatives

Government initiatives to bring transport reforms create ethnic tensions because private transporters are mostly Pashtuns. Their protests often pit them against the Urdu-speaking people, who are a majority in Karachi, which has a history of bloody riots between these two ethnic groups dating back to mid-1980s over the transport problem.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Traffic Police Wajid Durrani said he doubts even the 2010 deadline would be met.

"It is a complex issue, which has both ethnic and humanitarian dimensions," he told Gulf News. "The transporters often act like an organised mafia. The police can ban these rickshaws if the government orders, but managing its fallout would remain a problem."

Concerned citizens say that political expediency of the successive governments was fuelling an environmental disaster in Karachi and affecting people's health.

"Citizens of Karachi, especially children, are the worst victims of respiratory problems," said a doctor at the prestigious Aga Khan University Hospital.

"According to our research, many citizens, especially those living in the old parts of the city, have an excessive ratio of lead in their blood," he said requesting anonymity. Durrani said around 90 per cent of the traffic police force had excessive lead levels in their blood. "We are aware of the problem and have started treatment of the worst-affected cases with the help of Aga Khan Hospital."

Police say motor rickshaw drivers do not use mufflers to reduce the engine noise s because they say it results in increased fuel consumption. Most of them mix low-quality and recycled engine oil with petrol to save money, resulting in excessive smoke.

"We inhale toxic fumes all day," said Musharraf Abbas, a resident of Kharadar, which is in old parts of the city where traffic smoke hangs thick in the atmosphere.

Upgrades

Raza Khan, who works for a private firm, said double-glass windows on his fourth-floor office have failed to block the noise from rickshaws.

"Whether we are in our homes, offices or on the road, we can't escape the deafening noise of rickshaws nor the smoke emitted by them! They should be immediately banned."

The government has introduced four-stroke rickshaws run on compressed natural gas (CNG) in an attempt to curb noise and air pollution, but transporters allege they are sub-standard. "We will not allow our rickshaws to be banned," said Hafizul Haq Hasanzai, president of Taxi and Motor Rickshaw Association. "It is the question of our livelihood. The government should provide us loans so that we can install CNG-run engines in our existing rickshaws."

Irshad Hussain Shah Bukhari, the president of the Karachi Transport Ittehad (Alliance), said he agrees rickshaws remain a problem. "But alternative means of income should be provided to the people first before imposing any ban."