KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that he had constructed important roads of the city and now it was the responsibility of the shopkeepers and traders to keep their areas clean and prevent them from encroachments.
This he said while talking to the delegation of Tariq Road Traders Welfare Association led by its President Aslam Bhatti, General Secretary Asad Taufique, Fawad Khan, Haroon Zafar, Mohammad Azam, Zafar Iqbal and Mohammad Mehmood. The chief minister said that he had reconstructed important roads such as Tariq Road, Saddar, University Road and others which were the hub of business activities.
“I am sorry to say, I have personally witnessed that the traders throw waste and filth of their shops on the roads even though dustbins are lying there,” he said and urged the association to stop them from making their newly constructed areas filthy. The association members, lauding the chief minister for constructing their roads, said the construction work was in progress everywhere in the city. They assured the chief minister of their full support and cooperation in keeping their areas neat and clean.
The chief minister also noted that most of the shopping plazas had their parking lots in their buildings but they had converted them into godowns. “This is unacceptable,” he said and urged the association to talk to their members and others for opening their parking areas. “Otherwise he would have no option but to take action,” he said, adding that he will issue directives to the new traffic DIG to open the parking areas and report to him.
Shah also directed traffic DIG to revisit the areas where car showrooms were located and ensure no car was displayed on the road. “We would support them in doing their business activities with peace of mind but would never allow anybody to encroach roads and cause problems for smooth flow of traffic,” he said.
He also said that the work on road right from Fawara Chowk, near Governor House to Zoo, Garden and back from Garden to Saddar would be started shortly. “This would cause problems in the flow of traffic and create other problems, therefore I need your (traders community and the general public) support and cooperation,” he added.
