A princely sum

Reports suggest neither KMC nor Sindh govt has any funds for development

There is beggary in the allocation that is miserly reckoned. Governments under democracy owe all their money to the taxpayers, yet we often hear that they have no funds for development projects. Sometimes governments allocate a ridiculously tiny amount for public projects. The Sindh government has allocated a miserly sum of Rs1,000 in its budget 2019-20 for a food street and night bazaar project in the vicinity  of the historic Empress Market in Karachi. This might find a place in the Guinness book.

Development work has been going on in and around the iconic Empress Market for the past one year, after the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) demolished 1,700 shops built on encroached land and removed other unauthorised structures. The anti-encroachment action followed the orders of the Supreme Court. This affected shopkeepers who have been demanding alternative spaces. So far not many shopkeepers have been provided with alternative spaces. Most have been offered alternative shops at locations that are not as conducive to business as Empress Market. Some shopkeepers had been offered temporary spaces at Frere Market. Most have refused the offer for the market being at a location where they would get few customers. Surprisingly, some butchers have agreed to shift to Lyari’s Khadda Market. It is far from Empress Market in Saddar. The historic market is centrally located as most roads in Karachi lead to it.

The KMC says it has a plan for Empress Market, at least. But reports suggest neither the KMC nor the Sindh government has any funds to do so. The special secretary to the Sindh Local Government Department says so far Rs1 billion had been spent on rehabilitation and development projects in and around Empress Market. He says they have submitted a revised PC-1 of Rs1.3 billion to the relevant authorities to complete the food street and night bazaar. We hope the slow pace of work does not produce more ludicrous situations.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2019.

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