KARACHI: Unchecked encroachments along the main road and adjoining streets of Gulshan-e-Hadeed have brought vehicular and pedestrian movement close to a standstill, with residents accusing the local administration of watching the problem grow without intervening.
Carts, temporary stalls and roadside vendors have occupied both flanks of the road near the locality’s Monday and Wednesday Market, squeezing an already narrow carriageway into a single crawling lane during peak hours.
Speaking to The Lahore Times, residents said the situation deteriorates sharply on the two weekly bazaar days, when large numbers of carts block most of the road surface. Motorcyclists, rickshaws and cars are forced to compete for the same shrinking strip of tarmac, while shoppers and schoolchildren walk in the middle of moving traffic because footpaths have disappeared under merchandise.
Even on ordinary days, locals said, the evening hours reproduce the same disorder. Vendors begin setting up as shops fill after sunset, and by nightfall the road once again narrows to a bottleneck.
The most serious concern raised by residents is the risk to emergency response. They warned that ambulances, fire tenders and police mobiles could be delayed or blocked outright if an incident occurs in the interior streets while the market is in full swing — a scenario that, in a densely populated township, could prove costly.
Residents questioned why the administration continues to act as a silent spectator despite the encroachments being visible to anyone passing through the area, and demanded immediate action to clear the roads and restore normal movement.
Gulshan-e-Hadeed, the residential township that grew up around Pakistan Steel Mills on Karachi’s south-eastern edge, is one of many city neighbourhoods where weekly bazaars have expanded beyond their designated boundaries onto public thoroughfares. Anti-encroachment drives in Karachi have historically produced short-lived results, with vendors returning within days once enforcement teams withdraw.
Urban planners have long argued that the answer lies less in periodic bulldozer operations than in designating regulated vending zones, so that low-income traders retain a legal place to earn while roads remain open.
No official statement from the concerned town or municipal administration was available on the residents’ allegations of inaction at the time of filing this report. The Lahore Times will publish the administration’s position in full if and when it is provided.
The demand from Gulshan-e-Hadeed is unambiguous: clear the road, keep it clear, and let the neighbourhood breathe.
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