Anti-encroachment drive: traders for transparent execution of judicial order

Traders on Monday appealed to the Supreme Court to form a watchdog committee to oversee the continuing anti-encroachment operation in the city to ensure a transparent execution of the judicial order.
Showing doubts over the civic authorities' execution, they said that the apex court order to remove encroachments is not being carried out as per their expectations and they are unsatisfied with it. "The Supreme Court is appealed to form a committee also comprising traders to oversee the execution whether being carried out on a transparent basis as per the Supreme Court's positive orders," Chairman All Karachi Tajir Ittehad, Atiq Mir said.
However, he expressed concerns over the traffic congestion in the downtown area of the city because of the rubble is spread all over the demolished sites, saying that the anti-encroachment drive failed to show the exact results that the apex court wants through its order. The watchdog committee will at least let the apex court know of the true picture whether the concerned authorities are following its orders in a positive way, he said.
He said that the push carts have still occupied the roadsides that also hinder the pedestrian movement with the debris that accumulated from the demolishment of illegal structures blocks the footpaths. He requested the Supreme Court to take a notice of the crisis that grew in the wake of its order against encroachments in the city. The anti-encroachment drive also brought sales of street vendors almost to stagnation from being unsure about the civic authorities' next step.
He said that the there should be a clear-cut plan by the civic authorities to first let the shops owners know whether their properties fall in an illegal zone. "It will help the shop keepers to shift their businesses to an alternative place much before the drive actually takes place in a bid to protect their setups," he demanded, saying that the overall businesses are struggling to regain the sales movement, which seems unlikely for now since the drive is continuing.
"Demolition of shops around the Empress Market has left rubble in its wake all around the same spot, which either the civic authorities should lift or let the public themselves remove it from there," he said, adding that the move will also help ease the traffic movement in the same downtown. The drive, he said, has affected between 30,000 and 40,000 families, who were directly or indirectly associated to the businesses set up at Empress Market and around it. Nearly 50,000 shops were razed during the drive, he added.