KARACHI: It has been four days since district authorities sealed more than 100 shops in the Akbar Road motorcycle market for encroachment violations. After submitting written assurances to the district administration that they will follow standard operating procedures (SOPs), shopkeepers are hoping their businesses will reopen soon.
Akbar Road, commonly called Akbar Market, is one of the city’s largest hubs for buying and selling motorcycles. On a typical day the road is jam-packed because shopkeepers display motorcycles along both sides of the road and on footpaths, making it difficult for commuters and nearby residents to move freely.
Residents of the adjacent area said that during annual anti-encroachment drives the district administration seizes motorcycles and stalls set up on roads and footpaths, after which traffic flows freely. They added this rarely lasts more than a week, as encroachments soon reappear.
During a visit to the market on Tuesday, news sources observed that the scene was markedly different; shops on both sides of the road were sealed, and employees and shop owners were seen sitting outside their closed shops, waiting to reopen after submitting affidavits to the district commissioner’s office, South.
Karachi Motorcycle Dealer Association Chairman Muhammad Ahsan Gujjar told news channel that on Jan 3 the district administration sealed at least 95 shops for encroachment because they were displaying bikes on the road and footpath.
He said he had spoken to the assistant commissioner South, who assured him that once the shopkeepers submit affidavits pledging not to violate SOPs in the future, the shops would be reopened and de-sealed soon.
Referring to traders’ losses from the shop closures, Mr Gujjar said the market sells between 1,500 and 2,000 new motorcycles daily. He added that these sales used to generate millions of rupees for the government in sales tax, registration fees and transfer fees.
He said today is the fourth day since the shops were sealed and that an estimated loss of millions of rupees is being incurred.
Answering a question about whether shopkeepers were given advance notice of the encroachment drive, market association president Aqeel Sheikh said shopkeepers had been notified earlier and motorcycles were removed from the roads. He claimed, however, that the Jan 3 operation was carried out without prior notice from the authorities.
He alleged that car denters and painters had blocked the streets around the Preedy police station and that pickups at Regal Chowk were obstructing traffic, yet no action was being taken against them.