LAHORE
Illegal roadside stalls continue to thrive at the behest of the City District Government (CDGL) officials, causing a loss of millions of rupees to the government exchequer and creating traffic problems in the service lanes on both sides of The Mall.
There are approximately 1,000 shops on the iconic Mall road and more than 5,000 people visit offices, banks and other work areas everyday. Illegal stalls, unchecked by the CDGL, have mushroomed on the service lanes of the historic road.
Many stall owners revealed to Pakistan Today that they paid money every month, not only to the shop owners whose front they were using, but also to CDGL officials. Liaqat, one of the stall owners, claimed that he had paid Rs.70,000 in advance and pays Rs 25,000 every month to the shop owner outside whose shop he has set his stall up.
“There is no reason to evacuate this place. We pay for it and we work hard to earn a living,” said a defiant Liaqat. Adnan Shah, a shop owner was of the opinion that selling space outside one’s shop was an easy way to make money in these times of inflation and power cuts when business was suffering.
These stalls cause difficulty to commuters by occupying most of the parking space and the pedestrian area. “I work at the bank and using the service lane is next to impossible because of these stalls,” Nauman, a banker. “If these stalls are illegal, why doesn’t the city administration take action?” asked Sabiha, a visitor to The Mall.
“It’s a mafia,” the president of The Mall Road Traders Association (MTA) Raja Hamid said while talking to Pakistan Today. He blamed the Town Municipal Officer (TMO) for being involved in underhand deals which allowed the stall owners to set their stalls up.
Repeated attempts were made to contact TMO Malik Tariq and District Officer Public Facilities Chaudhry Abdur Shakur but they could not be reached for comments.
