Mayor vows to resettle displaced vendors

Says 2,100 displaced after anti-encroachment drives have been given alternative spaces

KARACHI: Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar allotted alternative spaces for shops to 405 traders, displaced from the now razed market near Karachi Zoological Garden, during a ceremony held at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) head office on Thursday.

Addressing the ceremony, he claimed that 2,100 traders, of the total 2,600 displaced in the aftermath of anti-encroachment drives, have been given alternative spaces and pledged to resettle all displaced traders within the next two months.

No assistance of any kind has been provided to KMC for resettling the affectees of anti-encroachment drives and the civic body is using its own resources for the purpose, he rued. “[However], people living in this city are my people and I consider it my responsibility to tend to their problems.”

Vendors in winter welcome weary wanderers in Punjab

He complained that the provincial government had promised assistance in the rehabilitation of displaced traders but only meetings were held and no practical step was taken in this regard.

The mayor, however, hailed the apex court’s verdict regarding the operation against encroachments, terming it an “effort towards restoring Karachi to its original condition,” and said, “All of us are responsible for ruining the city.”

He said that the city was headed towards rectifying the mistakes of the past, pertaining to “China cutting”, adding that the displaced vendors have been allotted alternative spaces in accordance with the law. “These spaces promise permanence and no one can ask the vendors to shift from these places.” The mayor also asked the vendors to maintain cleanliness in the new allotted spaces and safeguard them against encroachments.

Fearing arrests, street vendors stop selling vegetables in Rawalpindi

“We have damaged this city ourselves [and] we continue to [occupy] and do businesses on [its] footpaths, nullahs and [in] parks,” he said.

The mayor claimed the previous governments “never owned the city,” adding that the Centre too failed at protecting the land in its ownership in Karachi.

“No one cares whether the city’s streets and footpaths are spacious, whether parks and grounds are available [to its citizens] and whether the city’s beauty is [being marred],” the mayor said. “Karachi is our home and it is our responsibility to beautify it.”

Metropolitan Commissioner Dr Syed Saifur Rehman, who also spoke on the occasion, said that the mayor has been concerned about resettling the displaced persons from the onset of the anti-encroachment operation, adding that it was a difficult decision to provide alternative spaces on KMC’s land.  

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2020.