KARACHI: The plan to renovate Empress Market, Saddar and make its surroundings pedestrian friendly has hit a snag, with the administration so far failing to remove illegal structures and encroachments from the area.
Originally, it was planned to reroute all minibus routes from Saddar area, demolish illegally constructed shops and shanty markets around the Empress Market Building and ban entry of all sorts of vehicles in the area, making it an exclusive pedestrian zone.
However, the administration has neither completed the Saddar bus rerouting project nor removed encroachments and illegal structures; it has also been unable to ban the entry of vehicles in this proposed pedestrian friendly area.
It is said that the bureaucracy has lost interest in these projects to pacify the owners of illegal shops, markets and roadside stalls, who are not ready to vacate their encroachments voluntarily. It is alleged that kickbacks have been received from footpath vendors and other encroachers running businesses on roads and footpaths of Saddar area; vested interests of police and district administration do not want to end this steady black income as well.
However, the citizens have appealed to the concerned quarters, especially the Governor House, to order a probe into the delay in Empress Market renovation and related uplift projects of Saddar on a priority basis.
