KARACHI, Sept 30: A large number of footpaths of major thoroughfares in various towns have almost vanished as the officials concerned of various town councils legalized the otherwise illegally occupied pieces of land on payment of ‘land use charges’ being made by owners of commercial concerns.
Owners of such eating shops, restaurants, barbecue and fast-food houses, etc., had virtually annexed portions of footpaths as an extension of their business place to accommodate their customers.
A survey of various towns, particularly Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Saddar, Gulberg and Jamshed, reveals that not only footpaths of major thoroughfares but even the space separating main road and service road has been annexed by owners and operators of the eating houses, as well as those of automobile showrooms.
As they have left almost no space for pedestrians to walk through, the latter have to risk walking on the often busy roads.
Some of the major roads along which footpaths have either been heavily encroached upon or have vanished are the main University Road (from Hassan Square to Ashfaq Memorial Hospital), Gulistan-i-Jauhar’s main road falling in the jurisdiction of Gulshan Town, Jamshed Road, Khalid Bin Waleed Road, New M. A. Jinnah Road in Jamshed Town, Shahrah-i-Liaquat (from Fresco Chowk to Government Women College), Mohammad Bin Qasim Road (formerly Burnes Road) in Saddar Town, Shahrah-i-Pakistan (from Water Pump to Aisha Manzil) and many other wide roads in Federal B Area’s Block 7 in Gulberg Town.
The menace of footpath encroachment which has engulfed many of the 18 towns of the megapolis has been willingly patronized by the land department officials of town councils who usually would encourage the occupants of footpath through the local police stations. The ultimate sufferers are pedestrians, including elderly people, women and children, who are deprived of their right of use footpaths.
Besides, extremely unhygienic conditions obviously prevail at and around each of the eating houses, automobile workshops, etc., as the operators of such concerns would usually dispose of all sorts of rubbish and left-over food on the same footpaths they have been occupying. Because of this routine practice, stinking atmosphere prevails in the entire locality.
A visit to Mohammad Bin Qasim Road shows that not only the footpaths along it have been heavily encroached upon by vendors, but at least two lanes of the road have permanently been occupied with pushcart selling fruits, vegetables, food, etc.
A number of ice-cream parlours have also sprung up on both sides of the road, thereby leaving hardly one lane open for vehicular traffic.
At least one traffic lane and footpaths along both the sides of Khalid Bin Waleed Road and New M. A. Jinnah Road are being used exclusively by owners of automobile showrooms who would keep their cars parked all along the occupied strips of land as a routine. Such showrooms have also sprung up in a large number in the area. Similarly, footpaths of Jamshed Road have literally vanished with the vehicles meant for repairing and auto parts remaining spread all along them.
This locality is famous for the round the clock service extended by auto- mechanics, auto-electricians, denting/painting technicians etc.
Footpaths of Meena Bazaar and Bazaar-i-Faisal in Karimabad have been annexed fully by vendors, shopkeepers and owners of eating houses. They were encouraged by Gulberg Town’s former officials who had offered some of them a piece of land of certain size to place readymade wooden stalls. Subsequently, such stalls filled whole the space which was meant for pedestrians. In a similar fashion, the footpath from Fresco Chowk to Jamia Cloth Market had been annexed by shopkeepers and vendors in the past.
Footpaths of major roads in Gulshan and Saddar towns are about to meet the same fate. Owners of eating houses there have not only put up tables and chairs along the pavements but have also placed all sorts of cooking utensils, including ovens, all along them, blocking movement of pedestrians.
When TMO Gulshan, who has recently been transferred, was contacted Dawn to verify the claim that the encroachment of footpaths had been legalized against payment of land use charges, he replied in the affirmative.
When his attention was drawn to the fact that the facility had deprived pedestrians of their right to walk on footpaths, he official contended: “They (pedestrians) can walk on the adjacent service roads.”
However, DCO Fazalur Rehman while commenting on the growing menace of footpath encroachment pointed out that the occupants had been getting favour from the officials concern because they were paying not only the land use charges, but also illegal gratification on a regular basis.
Describing all such practices as ‘unlawful and unjust’, the DCO expressed his determination that footpaths would be restored to pedestrians and all those occupying the same would be made to clear the pavements.
KARACHI, Sept 30: A large number of footpaths of major thoroughfares in various towns have almost vanished as the officials concerned of various town councils legalized the otherwise illegally occupied pieces of land on payment of ‘land use charges’ being made by owners of commercial concerns.
