KMC shops’ tenants can pay rent of April, May in installments: mayor

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation has allowed the tenants in its shops and markets to pay the rent of April and May in installments over four months.

Talking to a trader’s delegation led by All Karachi Tajir Ittehad Chairman Ateeq Meer at the Frere Hall on Monday, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar said: “We have to allow small traders to carry out their business at furniture, electronics and cloth markets after adopting precautionary measures, else they would face miseries to feed their families.”

He said if the same situation persisted, the shop owners would not be able to pay salaries to their employees. Deputy mayor Syed Arshad Hassan, senior director coordination Masood Alam, senior director anti-encroachment Basheer Siddiqui, Tajir Ittehad's Abdul Hai Khan, Muhammad Akram Rana, Altaf Lala, Shaikh M Rafeeq, Muhammad Khalid Noor, SM Irshad, Rashid Khan and KMC officials were present on the occasion. Akhtar said there were 600,000 shops in Karachi through which hundreds of thousands of people earned a livelihood. Now, he added, the people could not afford further closure of shops.

He suggested that different markets could be opened on different days of a week, if the shopkeepers and the people followed SOPs set by the government. The mayor asked the traders to appoint some persons in each market who should ensure the adoption of all precautionary measures by the shopkeepers as well as by the people.

He demanded of the government to provide relief to small traders in the head of taxes and utility bills. The mayor was of the view that the KMC faced a financial crisis and there was a shortfall of 10 to 12 billion rupees every month in the head of salaries and pensions. "But still we will do all we can to provide relief to the traders."

He expressed concerns for citizens not following the preventive measures in the grocery and meat markets, terming it extremely dangerous for everyone. Akhtar also asked the traders to identify the locations where they want fumigation to be done. "Fifty per cent of Karachiites live in slum areas and it would be difficult to control if the COVID-19 spreads there," he added.

Atiq Mir said business activities had been restored to a certain degree in Lahore but there it was a case of discrimination with the traders in Karachi. He demanded of the provincial government to announce a schedule for the reopening of markets, as they would face a huge loss and hundreds of thousands of people would be jobless if the markets were not reopened in Ramazan.

Sanitary staff

Sindh local government secretary Roshan Ali Shaikh has said the local government department is playing a key role to defeat the coronavirus, a press release said on Monday. During a recent visit to the garbage transfer stations, he said the current phase of the crisis had doubled the responsibility of his department.