February 04, 2008	Monday	Muharram 25, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 3: Encroach-ments on a large scale have reappeared on the pavements and roads running along the Meena Bazaar and Bazaar-i-Faisal at Karimabad intersection causing immense hardship to motorists and pedestrians alike.

Women, most of them accompanied by children, are the worst-affected as both the bazaars offer merchandise mostly for women and children and the whole locality often remains crowded due to the congestion created by the encroachers. People are forced to walk on the left over space on the roads with speeding vehicles posing threat to their lives, especially during the evening rush hours.

Removed several times in the past, the encroachments have left almost no space for pedestrians to walk along. The footpaths provided at both the bazaars have fully been occupied by vendors, most of whom have spread their merchandise on the portion of the road falling in front of their stalls. Ultimately, their customers have to stand or walk on the remaining portion of the busy and congested roads. While the customers and the children accompanying them are prone to an accident, the growing encroachments are responsible for the repeated gridlocks at the intersection.

Hundreds of vehicles pass through this intersection from all four directions at a time and the absence of traffic signals creates a traffic chaos every now and then. Ironically, no traffic signal has been installed at this vital intersection even after the horrible accident that had claimed lives of two girls, students of the APWA College located in the neighbourhood, and a biker in the recent past.

Lenient attitude responsible

A lenient attitude adopted by the local administration towards encroachers over several decades had encouraged vendors to set up their small and big stalls all along the footpaths of the two bazaars. The hazards created by them stirred considerable uproar from general public and many of the shopkeepers, whose business was affected by the mushroom growth of vending. To silence the aggrieved people, the local administration carried out anti-encroachment drive several years ago to remove all the unauthorised stalls, pushcarts, etc.

However, no measures were taken to prevent reemergence of such encroachments and resultantly, the achievements through the drive stood neutralised as the encroachers returned to their places and gradually reoccupied the whole footpaths. A couple of anti-encroachment drives had to be carried out, though with a long interval, by the Gulberg Town administration but again the same lenient attitude reverted the locality to the pre-drive situation.

Since the right side lanes of the roads running along these bazaars have been spared for parking, these often remain packed with auto-rickshaws, taxis, cabs, buses and minibuses waiting for passengers. The haphazard manner in which these vehicles are parked or moved only adds to the woes of pedestrians and motorists.

Shopkeepers worried

Attributing the situation to the “criminal negligence on the part of the town administration and the police”, shopkeepers of Meena Bazaar and Bazaar-i-Faisal say that the congestion also facilitates street crimes, pointing out that a remarkable surge in theft and snatching of cellphones, purse, etc is always noticed when the encroachers block the pavements and cause congestion in and around the bazaars.

They argue that the unauthorised vending stalls are badly affecting their business as their customers could not find access to their shops.