KARACHI, Nov 22: A high-level meeting held here on Saturday with Adviser to the CM on Local Government, Wasim Akhtar, in the chair, directed the KBCA to remove all the cabins installed illegally along the pavements of Karimabad, a reference to the make-shift stalls installed along the footpaths adjacent to the Meena Bazaar and Bazaar-i-Faisal.
Taking notice of a report appearing in Dawn recently, the adviser convened the meeting with KBCA Chief Controller Brig (r) A. S. Nasir and other senior officials.
He asked the KBCA to immediately serve notices on the owners the cabins and retrieve the pavements from encroachers in order to restore pedestrians’ right to use footpaths.
However, the KBCA sources told Dawn that the adviser, as a concession to the owners of the illegal cabins, has told the KBCA not to carry out demolition of their cabins before Eid holidays which might cause financial losses to the affected traders.
The officials said that the process of issuing notices to those cabin-holders who had been occupying a considerable portion of the footpaths by raising illegal structures had begun on Saturday. Through the notice, the cabin-holders have been asked to remove their illegal structures voluntarily within seven days after receiving the notice. The notice warns of removal/demolition of any illegal structure at the owner’s risk if he failed to comply with the orders accordingly.
It may be pointed out that the Gulberg Town has sold the cabins as well as the space of their installation on pavements of the Bazaar-i-Faisal and the women-only Meena Bazaar to vendors in violation of rules relating to pedestrians’ right to use footpaths.
As many as 120 cabins have so far been installed on these pavements in Karimabad only to reduce considerably the space exclusively meant for footpaths. The ultimate sufferers are pedestrians, mainly women and children, who have to either walk in a zig-zag manner or step down to the busy road, thus risking an accident.
It is amazing to note that on the one hand, the Gulberg Town had affixed a number of billboards inscribed with the words “Footpaths are meant for pedestrians” and on the other, the Town administration itself had sponsored installation of cabins on both the footpaths.
Interestingly, at least one such cabin has been installed right under one of the same billboards.
Although people belonging to different walks of life have off and on been lashing out at the Gulberg Town administration’s move, the concerned officials have not yet bothered to remove such encroachment.
A number of the cabin-holders have put up their furniture in front of their cabins, hindering the movement of pedestrians and shoppers further.
Similarly, stall-holders usually stand between their cabin and the closest shops leaving an absolutely insufficient space for a person to walk through. Women shoppers appear more perturb over the situation as they could not pass through the space without having been pushed around by male shoppers.
It is feared that the greedy land mafia will encroach upon all the footpaths in the city, leaving none of them cleared for pedestrians.