KARACHI, April 16: The Saddar town administration has submitted a proposal to the city government for establishing Hawkers’ zones in some parts of the town.
These zones are likely to be set up at Express Market, Urdu Bazar, Kharadar, Mithadar areas and some other parts of the town.
This was stated by the Saddar Town Nazim Mohammad Farooq Memon Fariya while talking to newsmen in his office on Wednesday.
He said that the hawkers zones would be planned in a systematic manner and it would be ensured that traffic movement is not hindered and road-side encroachments are also removed. He was optimistic that the entire process would be finalized during the next couple of months.
Encroachment, he said, is one of the biggest problem in the town, particularly in shopping centres and market-places. Despite all odds, all-out efforts are being made for the removal of encroachments in the town, he said.
He said as many as 2,500 illegal structures, including patharidars, creating obstructions in the free traffic movement in different parts of Saddar Town, were removed during the ongoing anti-encroachment campaign.
These encroachments, he added, were removed from the main thoroughfares in Saddar, Empress Market, Preedy Street and M.A. Jinnah Road from Tibet Centre to Jamia Cloth Market by the administration of Saddar Town.
The Nazim, accompanied by TMO Khalid Mehmood Shaikh TMO (Regulation) Zubair Mughal, visited various areas of the town and informed the newsmen that some encroachments removed during the town’s anti-encroachment drive were as old as 40 years.
He admitted that an organized mafia was behind the encroachers in Saddar area, saying at least four arrests were also made during the anti-encroachment drive.
The Nazim said that during the encroachment removal operation, he sought the cooperation of high officials, including police as well as personnel of rangers, to make the current anti-encroachment drive a success.
In reply to a question, he said the town administration was facing shortage of funds which was the main cause of delay in the execution of development works.
According to him, Saddar Town earns Rs11 million every month, whereas the monthly bill of salaries was to the tune of Rs 12 million.
Similarly, he said, the Saddar Town gets a sum of Rs 2 million under the head of petrol while the expenditure under this head was Rs 3 million every month.
He said that the town did not get any amount under the head of charged parking and property tax.
He recounted various measures taken for the betterment of the people and said funds for various uplift projects were received under the Khushal Pakistan Programme.
In this regard, he particularly referred to water supply and sewerage problems, saying that the sewerage problem of the old city area had been resolved at an expenditure of Rs 24.8 million.
He said the sewerage problem of New Railway Colony was solved under the same programme at an estimated expenditure of Rs3.8 million.
Moreover, the Nazim said that water pipeline was laid under this programme in Gizri area at a cost of Rs 4.8 million.
The Nazim further stated that some eight million rupees were being spent on provision of lighting in Clifton area and around foreign missions. A sum of four million rupees has been approved, so far, under this head.
On this occasion, he also announced that the Burnes Road and Urdu Bazaar would be developed as a model area in this connection.
