Tug of war: With revamp plan, govt faces resistance from Namak Mandi traders

Government plans to remove encroachments and construct food street.

PESHAWAR:

The government’s plan to revamp Namak Mandi by removing encroachments and widening the road on either side is being met by resistance from the traders who fear job losses.

For a decade, the District Municipal Corporation has issued about a dozen notices asking the traders to evacuate and let the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government construct a food street in its place. The provincial government’s design includes an underground car park among other facilities.



Key to this plan is the demolition of three plazas on Namak Mandi Road that are owned by the municipal corporation. An official who has seen this case develop over the years, former Peshawar district nazim Senator Haji Ghulam Ali explained that these plazas now need to be torn down in order to create the food street.

The DMC had leased these plazas out to traders but realized that the asset was underperforming. The rent is far too low and the damage caused to the buildings far too much, Ali added. Most traders had leased their shops from the government for as low as Rs1,500 per month, but had rented them out for as much as Rs15,000. Their major concern now is that the shops will not be leased back to them, at least at the same rate, once the anti-encroachment drive is over, Ali added.

“It is necessary for the municipal corporation to take action against the encroachments and widen Namak Mandi Road to make a food street,” said Ali. “The local political leadership should also be taken into confidence before this is done.”

The latest warning from the district government came about two weeks ago. It appeared to have prompted people to get involved. One of them is prayer leader Qari Fayaz who told The Express Tribune that he met K-P Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Inayatullah Khan, district official Rashid Ahmad Khan and Chief Secretary Amjad Ali Khan. He urged them to present the traders with a comprehensive plan about the future of the bazaar. If the government’s idea could be practically given shape, added Fayaz, all the residents and businessmen would cooperate.

It is this gap in communication that may need to be addressed. For example, an official of the district municipal administration, Rashid Ahmad Khan, explained that they wanted to improve the area for the people. The road passing through Namak Mandi is too narrow and traffic jams develop at any given time.

With a rise in traffic volumes and encroachments in the past decade, Ahmad added, this has become a serious problem that needs to be addressed. He said this is why the K-P government decided, in the interest of its citizens, that the encroachments should be demolished and the road extended 40 feet both ways.

These plans have caused anxiety which has perhaps been exacerbated by the lack of discussion. Foremost a concern is job losses. Haji Muhammad Haleem of the Small Traders Association feared a number of small shopkeepers and workers would be left jobless. “We are not against the initiatives of the government,” he said, “but we cannot allow so many people to be deprived of their livelihood. At least 10 workers in every shop are working as daily-wage labourers with no alternate means of survival.”

“Hundreds of daily wagers would be unemployed because of this step and the market is not suitable for a food street anyway,” said Malik Mustafa, who is the president of the Awami National Party in Peshawar district.

He advised the government to construct a food street in an alternative area of the city, such as Khyber Bazaar, Ashraf Road or Chowk Yadgar.

As a solution, Haji Jahangir of the Anjuman Tajran Namak Mandi said that if the district government allowed them, they would be happy to repair and decorate the market themselves.

He said he failed to understand why the government needed to set up a food street in a place like Namak Mandi where everything was already available.

Arguably Namak Mandi’s most famous personality, Nisar — better known by his trade name ‘Charsi’ — has also put in his two cents. Out of the three plazas on Namak Mandi Road, Nisar says the government should demolish the smallest one first. Their commitment should be to return the shops to the same traders they will take them from.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2014.