KARACHI: Several people were trapped under debris as the roof of a shop collapsed during the anti-encroachment operation in Garden area on Saturday.
As per the details, the roof of a shop caved in the area of Garden where the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) had launched an anti-encroachment drive against illegal constructions.
Soon after the incident, rescue teams reached the spot and recovered one man from the debris, while the rescue operation continued to save the others.
Eyewitnesses present during the chain of events said that the shop’s roof collapsed while people were taking out their valuables out of the shop.
The city officials in their anti-encroachment exercise are likely to raze up to 500 shops and offices illegally built along the boundary wall of Karachi Zoo, as part of anti-encroachment operations being carried out across the city after the top court’s ruling.
According to shopkeepers, the KMC had earlier served them notices to vacate the shops within one month but they have suddenly slashed the deadline, creating stress among the shopkeeper community.
They revealed that the shops were rented out to them by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) in the 1960s. “The tenants of these shops have been conducting businesses at the rented spaces since years without any knowledge that it was illegal,” they added.
It is pertinent to mention here that the city authority had recently cancelled the tenancy contracts.