Karachi: The city administration is providing alternative shops to as many as 1,470 shopkeepers out of 3,575 traders displaced during the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in the city, a news source quoted Mayor Wasim Akhtar. He was addressing a press conference at his office on the issue of rehabilitation of shopkeepers displaced during the anti-encroachment campaign.
He said Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) would provide alternative market space to the displaced traders in Saddar Parking Plaza, KMC Market MT Khan Road, Lines Area in front of Parking Plaza, Shahabuddin Market Saddar, Ranchhore Line Market, Frere Market, Khadda Market and Supermarket Liaquatabad.
The remaining 2,105 affectees, he added, would be accommodated in the second phase of rehabilitation and that a summary in this regard had been forwarded to the chief minister.
KMC, in its report to the commissioner that also contained photographic evidence of the encroachment drive, said it had razed as many as 2,500 shops in Saddar area of the metropolis.
The report states that 2,500 illegal constructions, six RCC basements and a two-storey building were demolished to restore the historic Empress Market. It added that 480 illegal shops on Sohrab Khattak Road, 150 encroachments on Sarmad Shaheed Road, 450 stalls on Shahrah-e-Iraq and 7,500 shades were demolished during the drive.
Operation was also carried out on Zaibunnisa Street, Magazine Line, Abdullah Haroon Road, Raja Ghazanfar Ali Road and Mir Karam Ali Talpur Road. Further operations are underway in six other zones of the city.
