The yesterday judgment from the Supreme Court of
Pakistan to remove all encroachments and cabin shops from public parks and
amenity plots across the city has given food for thoughts to all illicit business
establishments. The SC bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed took serious
exception to the practice of renting out spaces in public parks and roads by
the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) authorities.
Infocus in its earlier blog dated March 20, this
year pointed out at these "unsolved and unresolved demon" of the
metropolis and urban analysts believe the roadside encroachments are the main
factor, which has made the Karachi' traffic and environs outright chaotic.
The impacts of these encroachments and their
illegitimate space are hazardous. Not only they occupy the roads which cause
severe traffic jam and obstacles for pedestrians, but they also badly affect
the environment and public health of the area, besides depriving government
from a sizable revenue.
Pointing out at the encroachment business in Sadder
area, the SC observes "The police station are running on money received
from push-cart vendors." Infocus figured out in previous blog " These
small business establishments is said to be nearly one lac in number only in
Sadder Karachi, which include modular stalls, moving carts, footpath shops,
roadside vendors and makeshift markets. Instead of paying any utility and tax
charges, they just pay Rs. 150 daily at individual capacity for their space, which
become Rs. 45 crore in total in a month, distributed in area police, traffic
police and KMC authorities."
Now all hope are on Commissioner, whom the SC has
directed to personally supervise the anti-encroachment campaign and submit a
compliance report. Whatever be the outcome, that is an outright verdict.
By
Editorial, Infocus
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