Karachi Company – capital’s perpetually-clogged market
Corruption at CDA is stated as sole reason behind ever-increasing encroachments
A view of the mosque built on encroached land; merchandise stacked outside a shop; a restaurant set up outside a bakery. PHOTOS: HUMA CHOUDHARY/EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
One of the city’s oldest and busiest business centres, Karachi Company in Sector G-9, has been struggling with the menace of encroachments for as long as one can remember.
There have been intermittent respites for the pedestrians, shoppers, motorists and shop owners, but after every drive, the encroachments do sprout back with the connivance of the officials of the civic agency and police.
An open letter to Islamabad Commissioner
Over the years, the civic authority made a number of half-hearted efforts to address the issue but the trend continues to get momentum.
Today the situation is worse. If one finds enough space to park a vehicle inside the market, consider it a blessing, as customers usually even find it difficult to walk through the market.
Open spaces, green areas, footpaths, and other pedestrian channels are under occupation of stallholders and traders. A bakery owner has encroached upon a footpath and set up a makeshift kitchen on it. A big car showroom owner has occupied not only the footpath but half of the road.
Starting anew: GDA chalks out encroachment drive
Erecting concrete structures, by encroaching upon public footpaths, has overtaken the practice of temporary encroachments such as roadside stalls set up by hawkers, which is in vogue in other business centres in the city.
“Footpaths have almost vanished. You will barely find one to walk,” says Chaudhry Aitizaz.
Aitizaz is a lawyer by profession and runs his office at Bismillah Arcade, Karachi Company.
Karachi Company was established in the mid 70s. It was named after a Karachi-based construction firm that constructed flats for federal government employees in G-9.
Court gives KMC seven days to clear Jahangir Park of encroachments
The market houses businesses ranging from transportation to wholesale vegetable and fruit shops, auto workshops, car showrooms, clothes and shoe outlets, rest houses, hotels, to government and private offices.
Due to a number of random entry and exit points, prolong traffic jams are regularly observed inside the market.
“In the CDA’s Master Plan there exists one major exit way from G-9 Markaz,” said an official of the CDA, adding an influential religious personality encroached upon it by constructing an illegal mosque at the location in 1993.
“Jamia Masjid Siddiq-e-Akbar was built in 1993 on encroached land. The site map available with the civic authority shows that the piece of land, where the mosque is situated, is actually the exit way from the G-9 Markaz,” the official said.
Similarly, a number of open spaces in the market have also been encroached.
As the number of police stations rises so does crime
Prevailing corruption at the federal capital’s civic agency is stated as the sole reason behind the practice of ever increasing encroachments.
In 2013, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) took up the matter of payment of extortion money running into millions of rupees, to the civic agency officials and the police personnel, by shopkeepers and stallholders in return for turning a blind eye towards the violations of the law inside the market.
The Islamabad’s police chief, that year admitted before the IHC that from the fruit and vegetable market in I-11 alone, Rs4.5 million per month was collected as bribe from small vendors by officials of different authorities.
The CDA Spokesperson, Ramzan Sajid, commenting over the issue said the authority undertook anti-encroachment drives throughout the year to shun the practice.
Responding to a question about corrupt practices behind the issue, he said that the department did not rule out that possibility.
He said that the CDA was currently undertaking action against kiosks across the city adding upon its culmination the authority would focus on encroachments inside commercial centres.
Outlets issued notices
An anti-encroachment team of the CDA has issued notices to several outlets and shops to vacate residential buildings in G-9/4, APP said. The team faced resistance from encroachers and the operation had to be halted for some time.
Later, the CDA team held negotiation with the traders and gave them three days time to remove encroachments. An official said that the CDA would not compromise on non-conforming use of houses and action would be taken against violators.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 10th, 2015.
One of the city’s oldest and busiest business centres, Karachi Company in Sector G-9, has been struggling with the menace of encroachments for as long as one can remember.
There have been intermittent respites for the pedestrians, shoppers, motorists and shop owners, but after every drive, the encroachments do sprout back with the connivance of the officials of the civic agency and police.
An open letter to Islamabad Commissioner
Over the years, the civic authority made a number of half-hearted efforts to address the issue but the trend continues to get momentum.
Today the situation is worse. If one finds enough space to park a vehicle inside the market, consider it a blessing, as customers usually even find it difficult to walk through the market.
Open spaces, green areas, footpaths, and other pedestrian channels are under occupation of stallholders and traders. A bakery owner has encroached upon a footpath and set up a makeshift kitchen on it. A big car showroom owner has occupied not only the footpath but half of the road.
Starting anew: GDA chalks out encroachment drive
Erecting concrete structures, by encroaching upon public footpaths, has overtaken the practice of temporary encroachments such as roadside stalls set up by hawkers, which is in vogue in other business centres in the city.
“Footpaths have almost vanished. You will barely find one to walk,” says Chaudhry Aitizaz.
Aitizaz is a lawyer by profession and runs his office at Bismillah Arcade, Karachi Company.
Karachi Company was established in the mid 70s. It was named after a Karachi-based construction firm that constructed flats for federal government employees in G-9.
Court gives KMC seven days to clear Jahangir Park of encroachments
The market houses businesses ranging from transportation to wholesale vegetable and fruit shops, auto workshops, car showrooms, clothes and shoe outlets, rest houses, hotels, to government and private offices.
Due to a number of random entry and exit points, prolong traffic jams are regularly observed inside the market.
“In the CDA’s Master Plan there exists one major exit way from G-9 Markaz,” said an official of the CDA, adding an influential religious personality encroached upon it by constructing an illegal mosque at the location in 1993.
“Jamia Masjid Siddiq-e-Akbar was built in 1993 on encroached land. The site map available with the civic authority shows that the piece of land, where the mosque is situated, is actually the exit way from the G-9 Markaz,” the official said.
Similarly, a number of open spaces in the market have also been encroached.
As the number of police stations rises so does crime
Prevailing corruption at the federal capital’s civic agency is stated as the sole reason behind the practice of ever increasing encroachments.
In 2013, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) took up the matter of payment of extortion money running into millions of rupees, to the civic agency officials and the police personnel, by shopkeepers and stallholders in return for turning a blind eye towards the violations of the law inside the market.
The Islamabad’s police chief, that year admitted before the IHC that from the fruit and vegetable market in I-11 alone, Rs4.5 million per month was collected as bribe from small vendors by officials of different authorities.
The CDA Spokesperson, Ramzan Sajid, commenting over the issue said the authority undertook anti-encroachment drives throughout the year to shun the practice.
Responding to a question about corrupt practices behind the issue, he said that the department did not rule out that possibility.
He said that the CDA was currently undertaking action against kiosks across the city adding upon its culmination the authority would focus on encroachments inside commercial centres.
Outlets issued notices
An anti-encroachment team of the CDA has issued notices to several outlets and shops to vacate residential buildings in G-9/4, APP said. The team faced resistance from encroachers and the operation had to be halted for some time.
Later, the CDA team held negotiation with the traders and gave them three days time to remove encroachments. An official said that the CDA would not compromise on non-conforming use of houses and action would be taken against violators.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 10th, 2015.