Murad comes to the rescue of blind elderly soft drink vendor

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Sunday came to the rescue of an aged and blind man who sells soft drinks on a roadside in the Tariq Road area.

The chief executive, accompanied by Information and Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, met the roadside vendor near the Rehmania Masjid Graveyard on Tariq Road during his surprise tour of the city.

During his visit to the Tariq Road area, the CM noticed the board on display near the aged man stating that the vendor is a blind person who uses the footpath space to sell soft drinks, appealing to the superior government authorities, including the CM, that the city’s administration should not harass him.

The CM made a brief stop at the place after seeing the appeal and bought soft drinks for himself and the members of his entourage. After paying the aged vendor, the CM identified himself and asked the man who had been bothering him.

The soft drink seller said he was being bothered by the police and the local administration. The CM at once phoned District East’s additional deputy commissioner and senior superintendent of police, as well as the administrator of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, directing them that the vendor should not be bothered any more.

The CM ordered the senior officials that they should always buy soft drinks from the elderly man whenever they visit the area, realising the fact that the man is earning a livelihood for the dependents in his family through honest means. He said the aged vendor should be appreciated as an icon of working hard to earn a living.

The chief executive asked the officials concerned to facilitate the aged seller to the maximum extent possible to help his roadside business to be conducted in an honourable and safe manner.

Also present on the occasion were the cabinet colleagues of the chief minister, namely Mir Shabbir Ali Bijarani, Taimur Talpur and Sindh government spokesman and adviser to CM on law Barrister Murtaza Wahab.