Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday ordered heritage department to submit a detailed report up to September 19, on merits and demerits of parking plaza being constructed by City District Government Karachi (CDGK) at Shahabuddin Market, near Empress Market of Saddar area.
The division bench comprising Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani and Justice Ali Sain Dino was hearing the petition filed by shopkeepers of Shahabuddin Market. The shopkeepers of Shahabuddin Market have in their petition said that the shops offered to them in Lines Area by CDGK in lieu of their existing ones are very small, which are not fit for their business.
The CDGK has planned to construct the parking plaza at Shahabuddin Market, which would include shops wherein the present occupants of the Market would also be accommodated. Till completion of this project, the shopkeepers have been asked to shift their business to a temporary market in Lines Area.
The SHC bench directed that the petitioners be provided with shops of at least 2/3 area of their present ones and that this shifting should be at free will of the shopkeepers.
It also ordered the heritage department to submit a study report within next six days that whether this parking plaza project would deface/encroach Saddar, the historical commercial area of the city. The bench adjourned hearing till September 19.