The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s anti-encroachment department conducted an operation in and around Empress Market in Saddar on Tuesday. KMC Anti-encroachment Senior Director Bashir Siddiqui oversaw the operation. It was the corporation’s first major anti-encroachment operation in the lockdown. Push-carts, patharas, cabins, fruit and vegetable stalls were confiscated. The police was also present. Siddiqui said no one is allowed to setup stalls, cabins and any sort of encroachment in and around the Empress Market. He said the anti-encroachment operation will continue in the rest of Saddar, including Regal, Mobile Market and other adjacent markets. This operation was launched by KMC in 2018 on Supreme Court orders. The KMC also carried out an anti-encroachment operation in Saddar area near the Empress Market and the Rainbow Centre last month. All cabins, food stalls and unlawful constructions on roads and footpaths were removed in the operation. Personnel of the Sindh police as well as traffic police were also present in the operation. KMC’s anti-encroachment senior director Bashir Siddiqui had said the operation was carried out in all streets surrounding the Empress Market. “There are very narrow streets where school bags and shoes are sold. The encroachers made their way back into the streets after two hours of the operation,” he said.
