Karachiites have appealed to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to take immediate notice of the rapid encroachment around the Old Sabzi Mandi area.
Talking to APP on Friday, they appreciated the chief minister’s orders for the removal of encroachments from footpaths and roadsides by car dealers on Khalid bin Waleed Road, but said that the situation is getting uglier at University Road, particularly the patch running parallel to the Old Sabzi Mandi.
“The two-way thoroughfare, part of University Road, has on one side been taken over by car dealers and tire shops, while the other side has been taken over by vendors of all sorts and hues,” one citizen said.
The wholesale market for fruits and vegetables was shifted to the outskirts of Karachi years ago and the space was converted into a beautiful park, a much-warranted need of the area people.
“Unfortunately, parts of the park itself have been commercialised with the creation of marriage lawns and a recreation centre,” said Mehboob Illahi, a resident of the nearby Al Hilal Housing Society.
The senior citizen and inhabitant of Zaman Colony, a low-income locality just behind the Old Sabzi Mandi, said that vendors selling goods ranging from old clothes to suitcases to fruits have encroached footpaths and almost half of the thoroughfare running towards Gulshan e Iqbal and Karachi University.
“This has denied us of the opportunity to take our regular morning and evening walk in the peaceful environment we previously had,” complained two senior citizens.
Zammarud Khan said there were also no adequate parking arrangements for the visitors to the marriage halls and recreation centres being run commercially on the premises of the public park.
“Hence evening hours are equally terrible,” he said referring to frequent accidents, with inhabitants of the locality constituting the majority of the victims.
Shahbaz Ali said that the road itself is badly damaged as car dealers and other encroachers are digging the thoroughfare with absolute impunity according to their convenience.
The patch was also said to be used for washing cars, causing water puddles.
“Standing water and the heaps of garbage have further turned the site into a serious hazard for the inhabitants while also hampering traffic flow,” said another resident.
Sharaf Ali Syed, a motorist, said that he and everyone else on the road have to bear the worsened traffic situation regularly from New M.A. Jinnah Road to University Road because of the showrooms and shops selling motor accessories.
“Business is actually being done on the thoroughfare,” he said and urged the authorities to take action against violators of the law.