Mayor announces anti-encroachment operation at parks

An operation is being planned to get rid of encroachments at various parks of the city. Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar said this while chairing a meeting at his office on Monday. According to the mayor, encroachments from the parks will be removed as per orders of the Supreme Court. All the trade activities in the parks be stopped forthwith, he said.

Akhtar also stressed the need for forming vigilance committees to ensure that encroachments do not reappear at the places from where they had been removed. Vigilance teams should patrol these areas regularly, he said.

The city government did not want people to get unemployed, Akhtar said. He, however, asserted that the government could not allow encroachments on the basis that removing them would cause unemployment.

The debris of shops demolished at the Empress Market be lifted as early as possible, the mayor directed. He added that the anti-encroachment operation would be carried out on 108 roads besides various parks and grounds of the city.

Akhtar lamented that encroachments did not allow beautiful façade of old buildings in the Saddar area to be visible. Saddar is the heart of Karachi, he said, adding that the area spread a soft image of the city.

Meanwhile, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Municipal Commissioner Dr Saif Ur Rehman supervised cleaning of the Empress Market as it was washed with a snorkel. During the eighth day of the anti-encroachment drive, 200 illegal shops around Jehangir Park were removed.

The municipal commissioner said footpaths were being cleaned to facilitate pedestrians. He warned those who had still their stuff on footpaths in Saddar to remove it or else they would have to bear the loss.