Traffic across city snarled as shoppers throng markets before complete lockdown
Karachi
May 7, 2021
After the news of complete lockdown in the city from May 9 onwards circulated in the media, people of Karachi thronged malls and markets of the city on Thursday for Eid shopping, creating a chaotic situation and severe traffic jams in almost all the major arteries of the city that lasted even till Iftaar.
Many shopping malls in Karachi opened at around 6am in the city on Thursday. Thousands of buyers reached early in the morning as the malls were supposed to be closed by 6pm.
According to the traffic awareness and social media unit of the DIG traffic, Karachi traffic movement remained slow from 1pm until sunset in Liaquatabad No 10 and near Firdous Market due to a large number of visitors. The same situation was witnessed in the Saddar area where shoppers thronged Zainab Market and traffic was bumper to bumper at Fawara Chowk, II Chundrigar Road and different streets of Saddar. Traffic remained snarled at Gul Plaza, MA Jinnah Road, Jama Cloth Market and Tower from morning till Iftaar. Blatant violations of the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) were observed in different markets, shops and malls of the city.