Displaying wares on footpaths and roads has become a routine matter in most commercial markets, causing inconvenience to not only pedestrians but also to road users.
This unchecked illegal practice is ruining the beauty of the Federal Capital while buyers have to face great difficulties during their visits to these markets for shopping.
In Aabpara and Karachi Company (G-9 Markaz), the shopkeepers and vendors in violations of all rules, encroach commercial area by putting various sale items for sale.
Bashir Ahmed, a pedestrian, said that several footpaths and roads encroached by shopkeepers do not have space for walkers and motorists, forcing pedestrians to walk on main roads instead of the footpaths. The issue is often causing traffic problems as well as accidents.
“If a place is not filled with goods, the shopkeepers use that place for parking of two-wheelers or four-wheelers,” he added.
Munir Akhtar, who live in a nearby market said that it takes him 30 minutes to get from a corner to the other corner of the market because of display of different goods by the shopkeepers.
With respect to land-grabbing, he commented that the condition is worst in residential sectors where most of the land grabbers and encroachers are highly influential due to which the authorities are reluctant to take action against them.
He said that although the CDA’s Directorate of Enforcement has been trying hard to clear the Capital of the menace of encroachment, it has achieved little success.
Usually, CDA staffers are able to, at best, displace encroacher such as fruit vendors and stall holders who return after a while.
A CDA official admitted that the ground reality is that it is impossible to remove the illegal encroachments from the Capital as whenever the CDA removes or bulldozes them from an area, the encroachers again return and occupy that space.
Some time back a number of Lawyers were found guilty of encroaching even on a grave yard in Islamabad. What happened to that?
Comments are closed.