800 Burnes Road shops razed as drive against encroachments enters 4th week

The ongoing anti-encroachment operation of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) entered its fourth week on Monday, razing around 800 shops and cabins from eight streets of Burnes Road over the past four days. The removal of illegal structures, counters and other encroachments from the inner streets of Burnes Road was also underway.

Metropolitan Commissioner Dr Syed Saif-ur-Rehman, who was monitoring the operation, said the drive would continue till the removal of all encroachments from roads, footpaths, streets and parks of the city.

He advised shopkeepers and residents to remove encroachments on their own to avoid any losses to their goods and property. Dr Rehman said all civic organisations were on one page for implementing the orders of the Supreme Court and the action against encroachments was being carried out jointly by the KMC, Rangers, police, district municipal corporations, cantonment boards, Sindh Solid Waste Management Board, Sui Southern Gas Company and K-Electric. The operation had been conducted successfully due to strong coordination among all organisations, he added.

Relocation efforts

Mayor Wasim Akhtar said the KMC had already halted the auction of available shops in the markets being run by the corporation to allot them to those affected by the anti-encroachment drive underway in the city.

He said this while talking to a delegation of Garden Market Association and representatives of other market associations, who called on him in his office. He said the provincial minister for local government along with a committee was working for relocating the affected people under the chairmanship of the Karachi commissioner.

Akhtar said the KMC had sent a summary to the Sindh government for the provision of land in each district of Karachi to construct markets and he was certain that the summary would get approved as all organisations were on the same page.

He said the operation against encroachments was being carried out on the directives of the Supreme Court and all organisations, including the KMC, were bound to implement the orders. The KMC had suffered nearly Rs40 million revenue losses during this campaign, he added.

Benazir Bhutto Park

The Karachi Development Authority has completed 90 per cent development work at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park in Clifton. The water fountain, which had been out of order since long, has been made operational and the lake has also been made clear of all kinds of filth and fungus to restore the park to its original position.

Media Coordinator KDA Akram Sattar said Director General Samiuddin Siddiqui was making all-out efforts to vacate all usurped land of the authority to build parks. He said the operation against encroachments was in full swing and was being carried out on the orders of the Supreme Court.

Emergency centre

Director General Karachi Development Authority Samiuddin Siddiqui said a temporary emergency centre established at the KDA Poly Clinic Hospital should remain functional for the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2018.

He stated this during a visit to the emergency centre and ordered maintaining cleanliness during the exhibition. Dr Salma Kausar, chief medical officer of the KDA, informed Siddiqui that the centre was well-equipped with doctors and surgeons to face any kind of emergency.