Karachi: First by-laws for 64 markets of city government on the cards

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Estate department to devise uniform policy for over 9,000 shopkeepers

By Jamil Khan

KARACHI: The city government’s estate department has been preparing by-laws for its 64 markets for the first time in the tenure of the current local government set up, and decided to devise a uniform policy for shopkeepers as well as vendors who occupy the surroundings of these markets without paying a single penny as revenue, Daily Times learnt on Tuesday.

City Naib Nazim Nasreen Jalil conducted a meeting with the heads of different departments recently and pushed the officials to complete the process of preparing the by-laws on priority basis. The process had already started over two and a half years ago.

City Council Committee for Land and Estate Affairs Chairman S Moin told Daily Times on Tuesday that they were working round-the-clock to finalise the by-laws draft and it will be finalised in the meeting with city naib nazim on Nov 1.

Responding to a question, he said that it was the target of the current city government to provide maximum relief to the citizens at every step and the by-laws for the 64 markets that are spread throughout Karachi will benefit not only the consumers but also the shopkeepers and vendors.

“Currently a large number of vendors and other makeshift stalls occupy roads, footpaths and surroundings of the major markets under the city government without paying a single penny as revenue and also causing a great inconvenience due to the haphazard setting of their stalls. The by-laws will provide a guideline to shopkeepers and vendors to set up their stalls properly and pay appropriate rent to the city government,” he said.

Moin mentioned that they had called on the EDO Law and other concerned officials to finalise their suggestions and give a concrete solution for the problems faced by shopkeepers as well as citizens visiting these markets on daily basis.

“In the meeting to be held on Nov 1, suggestions from the committee as well as the estate department will be finalised as a draft and will be presented in the city council which will pass the by-laws and they will be implemented without any delay,” he said.

Estate department District Officer Munir Ali Khan told Daily Times that it was the first time that the city government is preparing by-laws for the 64 markets. “We have been working and facilitating the shopkeepers of CDGK’s markets on the guidelines adopted by the defunct Karachi Metropolitan Corporation before 2001,” he said.

He also mentioned that the current government has been working on making the by-laws for the last two and a half years and they wanted to finalise them in their tenure so they could get the credit for it. The city government’s estate department has markets under its control that are located in almost all the 18 towns and these markets have more than 9,000 shops being run by shopkeepers to pay a monthly rent to the city government.

The majority of the markets are located in the old parts of the city and some of them are more than 125 years old and are set up by different governments in the past. The oldest markets including Hoti Market in Saddar, Civil Lines near Cantonment Railway Station, Sitara Market in Ranchore Line, Clayton Market in Gurumandir and Empress Market that dates back to the late 1800s and Sadder town has 37 markets which is the highest number of markets run by the city government while Baldia, Korangi, Malir, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Kemari towns each have one city government-run market.

Most the markets are in pathetic conditions as they have been functioning for the last 100 years but no repairs have been made on their structures showing the negligent attitude of the city government as well as its Estate department and they have also not provided safety to shopkeepers and the visitors.

The officials at the Estate department said that the maintenance of the markets was the responsibility of the Works and Services Department and they have been sent various proposals to carry out maintenance work on the old markets.

The concerned official at the Works and Services Department was not available for comments.

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