President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Junaid Esmail Makda, while expressing sheer disappointment on unjust relocations of the affectees of anti-encroachment drive, rejected the balloting carried out by Mayor Karachi in which majority of the shopkeepers have been displaced to irrelevant localities contrary to their businesses whereas the space allocated to shopkeepers is smaller as compared to their razed shops and the shopkeepers will have to get their shops constructed at the allocated spaces from their own pockets. It is a matter of grave concern that encroachment removed from one Nullah were being shifted near another Nullah at PIDC which will neither be acceptable to the honorable apex court nor to the business community as they will continue to fear all the time that someday they will again be removed from the alternate location. In a statement issued, President KCCI said, “Karachi Chamber, which is constantly being approached by the affectees, was totally ignored and we were neither consulted before the anti-encroachment drive nor prior to finalizing the relocation plan, resulting in triggering serious anxiety amongst all the affectees.” He stated, “Everyone is well-aware of KCCI’s exemplary role played in the rehabilitation activities for the affectees of Bolton Market arson incident in 2009 when this Chamber played the lead role in ensuring timely relief to all the affectees who were fully compensated as per their aspirations and they highly appreciated KCCI’s efforts. However, it is really disheartening to see that Sindh Government and Mayor Karachi never bothered to take our tremendous experience into consideration and came up with a pathetic relocation plan that has led to creating a chaotic situation.” Published in Daily Times, February 17th 2019.