RTA Administrator Nadia Parveen Sudhan said that assistant commissioners had been directed to head the anti-encroachment drives in the city. PHOTO: PPI
According to Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) anti-encroachment director Nazir Lakhani, there were hundreds of pushcarts and other forms of obstructions in Jodia Bazaar, which made it impossible to even enter the market. "In Khori Garden, there wasn't any space to walk," he claimed.
He pointed out that 15 feet of the area in front of the shops were under encroachments, which were then cleared during the operation.
Apart from the operation in Jodia Bazaar, similar operations were carried out in Bahadurabad and Liaquatabad.
In Bahadurabad, said Lakhani, they were planning to convert the roads into 'model roads' that are free of encroachments. He added that those shops that were blocking the roads were removed from Alamgir Road. "Shopkeepers have extended the size of footpaths and had illegally taken gas connections from under these footpaths," he said, adding that all such connections were removed.
As a result, the footpaths were broken during the operation. Once the operation is completed, said Lakhani, they will repair the footpaths and will also make sure that encroachments do not appear again. According to him, no resistance was shown during the anti-encroachment operation as the elected representatives of the respective union committees were on board with them along with the law enforcement agencies.
KMC's camps in all the operation-affected areas have been set up for a week to monitor re-emergence of encroachments. For the encroachments that take place during the night in Bahadurabad, he said that they will also initiate an operation in a day or two against illegal night sittings that will ease the flow of traffic.
A similar operation took place in Liaquatabad. Meanwhile, around 30 houses were demolished in the ongoing operation in Gujjar Nullah.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2017.
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