May 02, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 25, 1429

KARACHI, May 1: A number of shopkeepers and restaurant owners have adopted the novel idea of minting money by renting out portions of footpaths falling in front of their place of business to vendors for setting up cabins, installing sugarcane juice machines or placing kiosks of eatables.

Most of these fast-food/barbecue outlets and vending kiosks have sprung up in a considerably big number across the city, especially market places, bazaars, shopping malls, bus stops and shelters, etc, in congested areas like Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Mohammad Ali Society, Mohammad Bin Qasim Road (formerly Burnes Road) and Shahrah-i-Liaquat.

The trend has not only deprived citizens of their right of way on footpaths and pavements but also encouraged encroachments. The encroachers, in most cases, have been occupying considerable space on footpaths for setting up their business and also additional space to accommodate their customers to serve them food or entertain them comfortably. While the shopkeepers are using more than the legally allowed space on footpaths, the left-over portions are occupied by the vendors and restaurant owners who appeared to be their “tenants”. Resultantly, little or no space is left for pedestrians to walk on the footpaths.

Operators of some of such vending outlets in Gulshan-i-Iqbal and Gulistan-i-Jauhar told Dawn that they had set up their business with the permission of the shopkeepers already doing business along the footpaths. “Every shopkeeper charges Rs2,500 to Rs3,000 as monthly rent to allow us set up a cabin in front of their shops,” they revealed.

Many of the shopkeepers, restaurant owners and vendors doing the roadside business claimed that they had got their business activity “legalised” for Rs500 per month to be paid to the concerned land inspector and another Rs100 per week to the area police.

A visit to different parts of the city shows that the trend of illegal occupation of spaces along footpaths for roadside business has assumed an alarming proportion. Yet the city government, the town administrations and other authorities concerned have turned a blind eye towards the gross and blatant violation of all the relevant laws, rules and regulations.

Not only that the roadside businesses causes congestion and create troubles for pedestrians and shoppers, the crowds they gather around their business place seriously undermine the smooth flow of vehicular traffic in these areas.

Many of traffic accidents taking place in congested localities are attributed to the rush caused by the vendors and shopkeepers. Footpaths in various areas in the city are occupied by operators of food outlets in such manner that pedestrians are left with no choice but to walk on the adjacent busy roads and risk their lives.

Such roadside businesses along the University Road (between Hassan Square and Ashfaq Memorial Hospital) could be seen having annexed much of the footpath to furnish their “customer service portion” with chairs and tables. Some of the restaurant owners and eateries have extended their business place to the green island across the adjacent road or the strip lying across the service lane running parallel to the occupied footpath.