The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) on Sunday carried out an anti-encroachment operation on Sunday night against advertisements installed on street light poles on Sharea Faisal and Shahrah-e-Quaideen in District East.
According to a statement issued by the anti-encroachment department of the KMC, the operation started at around 7pm against the illegally installed streamers on poles that posed danger to commuters.
A deputy director of the anti-encroachment department, Amin Lakhani, supervised the operation on the ground. A heavy contingent of police was also present to provide security to the anti-encroachment team.
Streamers were also removed from Tariq Road, PECHS and Sindhi Muslim Society. Talking to The News, KMC Anti-Encroachment Senior Director Bashir Siddiqui said the operation against streamers was carried out by the Jamshed division of the anti-encroachment department of the KMC.
A similar operation, he said, would be carried out in a few days in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal division of his department.
He shared that the district municipal corporations (DMCs) had earlier granted permissions for such streamers but then there came a clear directive of the Supreme Court to remove all such streamers installed on public poles, footpaths or roads that could be dangerous for drivers.
Such streamers, he said, mostly protruded out onto the roads and were dangerous for motorcycle riders.
Meanwhile, in District Korangi’s Model Colony, a massive anti-encroachment operation was launched in the night by the corporation. All cabins, food kiosks, betel kiosks, tables and chairs of tea stalls, and other illegal structures on roads and footpaths were removed and confiscated by the authorities.
Night hotels, which were running on green belts, according to Siddiqui, were all removed. Generally, he said, his department carried out such operations during daytime but such encroachers hid their stuff during the day and at night they continued their businesses as usual.
That is why, he said, the KMC had decided to carry out anti-encroachment operations during night as well.
He said they would make sure that night eateries illegally running on footpaths and roads would be removed throughout the city. On Monday (today), he said a similar night operation would be carried out in District South.