KARACHI: A young boy was killed after the roof of a shop razed in the ongoing anti-encroachment drive collapsed in Karachi’s Korangi No 6 area on Thursday.
According to police, the six-year-old boy, identified as Osama, was a garbage collector and was pulling iron from the rubble of razed shops when the roof collapsed on him. Authorities added that an operation against illegal encroachments had taken place in the area a few days earlier.
Residents of the area said that garbage-picking children have been coming to the area since the operation and collecting iron from the rubble of the demolished shops.
The Supreme Court (SC) last year had ordered city-wide anti-encroachment drive which started from Empress Market in Saddar. The Karachi Development Authority (KDA), Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and other civic bodies, backed by law enforcers, are carrying out anti-encroachment operations across the metropolis on the apex court’s orders.
Area residents say children have been coming to the area since the operation and collecting iron from the rubble of the demolished shops.
In a report submitted in SC’s Karachi registry, a total of 2,233 shops had been demolished till 2018 year-end in the anti-encroachment drive. 744 shops were razed in Empress Market, 603 shops in Umar Farooqui Market, 176 in Mairaj Market, and 151 around Jahangir Park, the report stated.
297 shops were demolished at Ali Dina Road, 100 at Jinnah Road, three at Regal Chowk, and two at Akbar Road. 138 rented shops were razed at Khoury Garden, the report added.
