KARACHI, Oct 29: Unauthorized and illegal construction continues unabated in block 2 of PECHS, particularly along the main Tariq Road, while the concerned authorities seem least interested in fulfilling their responsibilities in this regard.

All buildings whether new or old have been constructed in such a haphazard manner that there is no symmetry in their alignment as some buildings’ projections are either only four feet away or between eight and 10 feet away from the outer edge of footpath. Besides, heavy and superfluous hoarding and neon sign boards are so dangerously hanged or fixed that one feels himself prone to injury while passing or standing underneath. Such hazards are quite visible across the main Tariq Road’s commercial area.

In one particular case, front elevation of a corner building, having three shops, near formerly Cafe Liberty, on this road has been extended to such an extent that it has covered more than half of the width of the adjacent footpath. Shoppers and passersby fear that the RCC structure/projection may fall on them any moment.

The clause 2 of the section 5, Chapter 9 of the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations-2002, clearly states: “No construction shall be allowed in the chamfered portion up to 17 feet (5.17m) measured from the adjacent road.” The building’s balcony is, however, hardly nine feet high which is a violation of the clause which sets standard of the height of a balcony or sunshade at a minimum of 17 feet above the street level.

The owner of the building, on the one hand, has extended the front elevation of the three shops almost up to the footpath on all the three sides and, on the other, has also flouted different clauses of the Chapter 8 of the KBTP Regulations pertaining to safety and security.

As the building’s construction work is under way for the last two months, and the whole portion of the footpath in its front has remained occupied with shuttering material, shoppers visiting Tariq Road have no choice but to risk a walk through the road amid heavy vehicular traffic.

Since the shops’ extended front elevation has eclipsed the sign boards of the shops in the neighbourhood, the other shops-owners have resorted reinstalling their sign boards obviously bypassing the elevation and aligning them parallel to the extended line in order to make them visible to customers.

The final stage of construction work is even more dangerous for pedestrians and shoppers, including women and children, who dare passing underneath the shutterings while plastering and affixing of tiles on the building’s unauthorized projection is in process. The manner in which the ongoing work is being carried out is itself a violation of the Section 8 of the KBTP Regulations whereby a builder is required to erect fences or barriers to block people’s free movement in the dangerous zone of an under-construction site. The builder is bound to make suitable arrangements, to the satisfaction of the concerned authorities, for the safety and security of people where separation of the site and thoroughfare is not possible.

People living on and around Tariq Road apprehend that if the trend of illegal extension of property and encroachment is allowed to flourish unabated at its current pace, pavements all along the road would vanish in a few years. Even at this stage, pavement are already encroached upon to a considerable extent by vendors, hotel-owners and operators of other roadside business. Hoardings, elevations and hoardings would cover them further.

Besides, a visit to the Tariq Road would show that not a single highrise shopping plaza has provided car parking facilities as in most of the cases, shops have been constructed on the reserved parking space.