Burdened by the skyrocketing inflation, dealing with corrupt policemen and forced to pay extortion money to different religious and political parties in the form of ‘zakat’ and ‘fitra’, the pushcart vendors and stall owners outside the Gulf Shopping Mall in Clifton also have to grease the palms of a shady man, who claims that he is the employee of the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC).
These vendors say that they have to pay between Rs 250 and Rs 500 to the ‘CBC employee’.
A pan cabin owner there told Pakistan Today on the condition of anonymity that a person visits the market every week and collects cash from all pushcart vendors and stall owners on behalf of the CBC. “I give him Rs 250 every week,” he added.
A pushcart owner selling bun kebabs there told Pakistan Today that he is running this business for the last six months.
“A man named Imran comes here and collects Rs 500 from me every week,” he claimed.
A few yards away, another vendor selling fruit juice on a pushcart said everyone is collecting extortion money in some form or the other.
“I am very poor and have to pay Rs 500 every week whether I make any earnings or not,” he said.
An artificial jewellery stall owner outside the mall said that if anybody refuses to pay Imran, his stall is not allowed to open the next day.
A pushcart owner selling toys sees the positive side of the situation. “After the CBC employee collects money from vendors, they are no longer bugged by policemen for bribe,” he said.
The CBC management says that it is unaware of this practice taking place in its limit.
Amir Arbab Ali, the public relations officer of the CBC, said that there is no person authorised to collect weekly charges from pushcart vendors or stall owners on behalf of the CBC. “Perhaps somebody is using the name of board for this illegal purpose. I will investigate the matter,” he said.
CBC Anti Encroachment Cell In-charge Khadim Hussain Achwi told Pakistan Today that if there is somebody illegally collecting money from pushcart vendors and stall owners outside Gulf market, he would take a strict action against him.
According to sources, Imran pays Rs 0.1 million to some CBC officials every month to keep his extortion business running.
