Daily Times

“Ehsaas Rehribaan” initiative has dismantled the monopoly of shopkeepers who used to charge a handsome rent to street vendors on monthly basis in Sector G-11 Markaz.

Despite paying a good portion of their monthly income to the shopkeepers, the street vendors business was not secure. The Capital Development Authority used to conduct anti-encroachment operations time and again to clear the footpaths for smooth movements of pedestrians and shoppers and confiscate goods of the poor sellers.

The “Ehsaas Rehribaan” initiative has provided a sigh of relief to the unattended segment of the society, which could not afford to have a shop on rent.

The beneficiaries of the vendor-friendly project, during a talk to this scribe on Tuesday, appreciated the incumbent government of Pakistan Tehreeke-e-Insaf (PTI) to give legal cover to their small businesses, which is bread and butter for their children.

Syed Tahir Sardar, a vendor providing watchmaking service, said, he used to pay Rs12,000 monthly to the shopkeeper for his small counter. But thanks to Allah Almighty, after this incredible initiative of the PTI government, he was paying only Rs24,000 annually and running his business independently and tension free.

He said although everything was fine the solar panels provided to the vendors for electricity purposes were incompatible with the weather condition of Islamabad and not meeting their demands.

He urged the government to look into the matter on humanitarian grounds so that they could carry on their business without any interruption.

Shafique Ahmed Chaudhry, a shopper, besides lauding the Rehribaan initiative of the present government, registered a complaint that the civic body should install more and large-sized trash cans to manage the maximum garbage heap.

He said dustbins installed along the roadsides were small in size and mostly full of trash which gives a bad smell and look to the people.