Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar on Wednesday said that the ongoing anti-encroachment operation in the metropolis has inflicted a revenue loss of around Rs 50million to the resource-strived Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), during the last couple of months.
"This drive gave a huge dent to my politics," said the Mayor while talking to a visiting delegation of Zoological Garden Market Association headed by its General Secretary Muhammad Asif Shehzad at his office. It was a court order [to remove encroachments from the city] and that the KMC's anti-encroachment cell along with other stakeholders including federal government departments, District Administrations, and Commissioner Karachi is conducting the drive in the city, rigorously.
"The drive has so far inflicted a revenue loss of around Rs 50million to KMC's exchequer," he said and added that the government departments have to fulfil the orders of the judiciary, regardless of what financial and political consequences they may face.
However, the anti-encroachment drive has helped the civic body to clear its different footpaths, markets, historical buildings, amenity plots, parks etc. including iconic Empress Market from encroachers and land mafias.
The mayor said that the 50-year-old rented KMC's shops built on amenity plots, Nullahs, and footpaths are now being removed in compliance with the Supreme Court (SC) orders. The court has asked Federal and Provincial concerned departments, and KMC to clear the sites giving a one-month deadline and asked them to submit the report, accordingly. The drive will soon be conducted around Zoological Garden and Lee Market, while the other locations have already been cleared, Mayor informed. The Garden area traders have already been informed to vacate the shops by next Friday, as the drive would be conducted on Sunday January 6.
The Mayor's anti-encroachment drive was welcomed by citizens at large; however the operation teams faced stern resistance from traders and land mafias on different occasions and criticism from political parties including his own Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).
The disgruntled party leader Dr Farooq Sattar accused Wasim Akhtar of inflicting misery on the poor, alleging that he was among those who exploited the Supreme Court order against encroachments.
The drive on various occasions turned violent as the affected shopkeepers and alleged land mafias resorted to shelling and pelted stones on the anti-encroachment teams in Korangi, Saddar, Empress Market areas. Amid growing concerns from sections of society, the Sindh Government and KMC decided to bar the anti-encroachment operation team from demolition of residential houses elsewhere in the metropolis and to rehabilitate the victims.
"Sindh Government will rehabilitate & relocate about 3,500 shop owners who had some title document issued by KMC in different areas so that they can continue to earn their livelihood & contribute to the economy." the Sindh Information Advisor Murtaza Wahab twitted on December 3, last. But, on the other hand the traders deplored and said that they are still waiting for the alternate location to resume businesses. Meanwhile, the Mayor said that balloting would be conducted at the Commissioner's House to allot alternate shops for some 1500 traders, next week.
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