KARACHI: There is absolute chaos on Shahrah-i-Iraq, one of the busiest roads of the city, as the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) staff chase and rough up fruit vendors occupying a large portion of the road. The lucky ones amongst them disappear into the narrow lanes while the rest have to bear the wrath of the government officials.

“Most of us pay Rs50 to Rs150 daily to the police or the KMC staff, whoever comes and threatens us. But still they beat us whenever they feel like,” says Sabir, who is among the many vendors pulling his cart away from the main road.

A few lose their commodities while pulling away their four-wheeled carts.

“They don’t ask for money but take away the goods. I do business here because this passage is frequented by hundreds of people daily and offers a good opportunity to earn a livelihood,” says Ashraf, another vendor, when asked why he has selected this place for business despite knowing it is risky.

As vendors look for refuge, a KMC official directs his staff to bring a truck to the spot, apparently to seize the vendors’ goods.

When asked, a KMC official, part of the anti-encroachment drive, rejects allegations of bribery and explains that since the staff has no other means except wooden sticks to warn vendors, the truck is used as a threat to force vendors to leave the road.

None of their commodities would be seized, he claimed.

‘A big nuisance’

“These businesses are a big nuisance as they seriously hamper traffic,” says an official who identifies himself as Noman Ahmed, assistant director (south), KMC, regretting that the police offer no cooperation in the drive.

According to him, a drive to remove vendors encroaching upon roads is in progress in the whole of Saddar Town and efforts are on to remove hindrances in the smooth flow of traffic.

Contrary to the disorder on Shahrah-i-Iraq, there is no sign of fear in the nearby bazaar set up on a road leading to Preedy Street in Saddar. Commonly referred to as Landa Bazaar, the makeshift market has been a popular place dealing in second-hand products for decades.

Abdullah and Amanullah, both aged between 14 and 16 years, are here far away from their hometowns in Balochistan to support their families. “We buy these toys from Shershah and sell them here at a price as low as Rs10 apiece. We have heard that the KMC staff has come but we are not afraid. They will take some of our goods for free and leave,” says Amanullah, who had to discontinue education after class three and came to Karachi where his relatives were already engaged in the same trade.

Fazal, another vendor, however, is furious over government drives against road encroachers. “We are not thieves but struggle hard the whole day to earn Rizq-i-Halal. I have been here for 35 years but couldn’t save money enough to build a shop. In fact, the amount is hardly sufficient for bare survival,” he says.

Back on Shahrah-i-Iraq, matters take only 20 minutes to normalise. The KMC staff has gone and vendors resume their business with a peace that seems to have never eluded them.

Faulty planning

Although the issue of road encroachment, particularly by vendors, has a human face to it, too, experts say encroachment is a big problem in Karachi and is directly linked to traffic congestion.

“Ironically, this problem is not recognised and given the attention it deserves. If one or two lanes of a road are occupied, which is the case at all major thoroughfares of the city, not only the speed of the vehicle will slacken, there will be a major reduction in the vehicle-carrying capacity of the road,” says Ashar Hashmat Lodi, an expert on transport engineering and also part of NED University’s visiting faculty.

Pointing out the roads affected by encroachment, he says the government lacks the understanding that road extension or making flyovers is no solution to improving traffic flow as the problem exists elsewhere.

Citing the example of Sharea Faisal, he says widening the road will not solve its congestion problem unless the government reduces its access points and improves alternative routes. “Since parallel routes are in a poor shape that includes lots of encroachments acting as bottlenecks and Sharea Faisal has too many access points from service roads, it gets choked frequently,” he says.

According to him, all this requires expert planning and taking bold decisions.

“If someone asks me, I will reduce the width of Sharea Faisal and limit its access points; that will automatically improve traffic flow.”

Construction and success of any mass transit project, he says, requires removal of all kinds of encroachments.

“Nobody wants to render vendors jobless. It’s the government’s responsibility to designate places for parking and running businesses,” he says.

Farhan Anwar, an urban planner and educator, says: “Encroachments have increased over the years because of two reasons: first, there are just more cars/motorcycles running on the streets and, second, there is an increased commercial and residential growth.

“It is basically the responsibility of the traffic police and also the land-owning agencies to act against encroachments, develop proper parking places and implement them strictly.”

City’s ‘choke points’

According to the traffic police, there are 26 ‘choke points’ in the city where encroachments have made traffic management almost impossible. They include portions of Sharea Faisal, M.R. Kiyani Road, Chand Bibi Rd, Yaqoob Khan Rd, Agha Khan III Rd, Dr Daudpota Rd, Abdullah Haroon Rd, Mansfield Street, Preedy St, M.A. Jinnah Rd, Nawab Siddiq Ali Khan Rd, Business Recorder Rd and S.M. Taufeeq Rd.

“We have tried many times to clear these points but failed. This is so because it’s beyond our powers to remove encroachments. The authorities responsible for solution include the area police, KMC, Defence Housing Authority, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, Sindh Building Control Authority, cantonment boards, provincial transport department and the commissioner’s office,” a senior traffic police official said.

Some experts say that encroachments have turned into a big mafia generating billions of illicit rupees annually, the actual reason for inaction. “How will anyone want to remove an encroachment when he is benefiting from it?” says a traffic engineer.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2017