HYDERABAD: An unpleasant situation was created in Resham Bazaar when anti-encroachment staff tried to remove illegal stalls from the area late on Saturday night in the presence of the assistant commissioner city.

According to details, a team of the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) arrived in the city’s busiest Resham Bazaar — famous for shops dealing in women related stuff — late last night and tried to remove the vendors who were selling their stuff outside the shops located in the market.

The vendors offered resistance. AC City Syed Noor Hussain was also present. Sindh Assembly member Nasir Qureshi also arrived in the area and argued with the team members and the AC.

The AC told him that the general secretary of the union of the bazaar, Tariq Shaikh, had lodged a complaint with him for the removal of the encroachment. The union had been pursuing the matter before Ramazan and a couple of days ago, they had staged a sit-in outside their shops in the market to demand removal of the encroachment, he added.

The MPA argued that the anti-encroachment drive by the HMC remained selected and the corporation didn’t take action elsewhere in the city.

He told the HMC’s director of anti-encroachment and AC that if the drive was to be launched, it should have been carried out across the board either before Ramazan or after Eidul Fitr.

He said that those vendors were from the underprivileged class and they should not be harassed in that season when they were earning their livelihood.

He said the action could be taken after Eidul Fitr after taking union and shopkeepers on board.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2026