Anti-Encroachment Drive: KMC demolishes 405 shops surrounding Karachi Zoo

KARACHI: The city authorities demolished 405 shops and offices in an anti-encroachment operation at the area surrounding Zoological Garden Karachi, ARY News reported on Monday.

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) personnel will remove debris of the structures demolished during the three-day drive today.

The workers of power and gas utilities were also accompanied with the KMC staff to assist in the drive.

A large contingent of police and Rangers personnel were deployed along with water cannons to disperse any adverse reaction from the shopkeepers during the anti-encroachment campaign.

The shopkeepers continued to protest against the anti-encroachment operation.

A roof of a shop was caved in on Saturday and scores of people got trapped under the wreckage. The eye-witnesses said the shop’s roof collapsed, when the people were taking out their valuables from the shop.

The city officials also razed illegal structures built at Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim at Clifton.

The city officials in their anti-encroachment exercise razed shops and offices illegally built along the boundary wall of the Karachi Zoo, as part of their anti-encroachment operation being carried out across the city after the Supreme Court ruled for it.

According to shopkeepers, the KMC had earlier served them notices to vacate the shops within one month but now they have abruptly slashed the deadline for removal of their shops.

The shops, as per the shopkeepers, were rented out to them by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) in 1960s. Since then tenants of these shops conducting businesses.

The city authority had recently cancelled the tenancy contracts of these shops and offices.