Footpaths cleared of encroachments in three districts

The anti-encroachment department of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) on Thursday removed illegal constructions and seized cabins, stalls and furniture items from footpaths in its action against encroachments in District Central, District East and District Korangi.

According to a statement issued by the corporation, KMC Anti-Encroachment Senior Director Bashir Siddiqui supervised the anti-encroachment operations that were carried out with the help of heavy machinery in Akhtar Colony, Kashmir Colony, Link Road and Nadra office in District East where all illegal shops, eateries and concrete walls were demolished and many pushcarts, cabins and furniture items were seized by the department. In District Central, action against encroachments was taken in New Karachi Sector 11-G and 5-F where stalls, pushcarts and cabins were removed from footpaths and roads.

Musarrat Ali Khan, deputy director of the KMC anti-encroachment department, and the respective area police monitored the operations in District Korangi.

Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, according to the statement, had directed the anti-encroachment officials to carry out action against all encroachments in the city. He also ordered to make sure that such encroachments did not emerge again once they were removed.

The mayor gave clear instructions to the anti-encroachment officials to continue operations in all the six districts of the city on a daily basis. No one was allowed to carry out business activities on main roads or service roads as they were meant to be used by vehicular traffic, he said. As for the pavements, the mayor said, they were for pedestrians, while green belts were for trees and plants around the roads.

The mayor said the encroachers had been tarnishing the beauty of the city, besides creating hurdles in the smooth flow of traffic on the arteries.

The corporation had carried out massive anti-encroachment operations in District Central and District Korangi last week as well, in which the Motorcycle Market near UP Morr in District Central was cleared of encroachments. All shades, grills, walls and extended portions of shops were razed to the ground with heavy machinery, whereas stalls, cabins and pushcarts on the footpaths were confiscated.

During another operation at Wireless Gate in Green Town of Shah Faisal Colony in District Korangi, the anti-encroachment staff removed all cabins, stalls, pushcarts and other encroachments from the footpaths. As many as 17 broken-down vehicles and motorcycles on footpaths and service roads were also removed by the department and taken to the KMC’s store in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.