Late-night operation: Several illegal shops razed in Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar

KARACHI: The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) team launched an anti-encroachment drive in Gulistan-e-Jauhar area late at night in the city and razed several illegal shops and stores whose extensions had exceeded the legal limit, ARY News reported.

The drive against encroachments, launched by the KMC under the Supreme Court orders, continued with the use of heavy machinery. The anti-encroachment team demolished all illegal settlements in Block-16 of Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

Similar footpaths occupied by some people by setting up makeshift stalls were also cleaned up.

The KMC officials say the drive against encroachment will continue until they rid the area of all such illegally constructed shops that cause gridlocks on daily basis.

The Supreme Court on Oct 27 ordered that the illegal encroachments in the metropolis be removed within the next 15 days.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar heard a case against land mafia in Karachi at the top court’s Karachi registry.

Mayor Karachi had told the court that more than 70 per cent of Empress Market had been cleared. Moreover, the court directed the heads of the cantonment boards and rangers to cooperate with the administration in clearing out the encroachments in a peaceful manner and according to the law.

A protest was also launched by shopkeepers at the Empress Market against the ongoing anti-encroachment operation in Saddar area. Mayor Waseem Akhtar said that the municipal authorities will not allow anyone to encroach the city.

Talking to journalists outside the Empress Market, he said that the government will not succumb to any pressure and stern action will be taken against encroachers.