KARACHI -  City Mayor Wasim Akhtar said on Sunday that speedy work was being carried out for restoration of Bagh Ibne Qasim.

He said, “We will not allow anyone to grab even an inch of the government land. The local government will restore all projects and revive the old glory of the projects in public interest.”

He sated this during his visit to Bagh Ibne Qasim. He said that Bagh Ibne Qasim was considered to be the biggest park of the city. It has its own importance because it is located near the sea, he said. The rulers ruined the park during the last eight years like other parks of the city. He said the park had been closed for public for the last two years.

Akhtar said that restoration work on the park had been initiated. He said the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) had spent its own funds on the renovation work. He said the park was constructed in 2006 for the public and now again the KMC would take measures to restore it to its original form.

He said that 130-acre land of Bagh Ibne Qasim was gifted by a citizen of Karachi, Jahangir Kothari, to the public of Karachi. “We will not allow anyone to use the land for commercial activity,” he said.

He vowed that the park would be opened for public soon. Restoration work on other parks of the city will also been initiated on an urgent basis, he said.

Also, the city mayor visited Tariq Road with Chairman of DMC East Moeed Anwer, Director General of Technical Services Shahab Anwer and other officials.

On this occasion, he said that all encroachments in front of shops on Tariq Road should be removed to maintain beauty of the road and flow of traffic on this busy commercial street of the city.

The road, which has been reconstructed at the cost of millions of rupees, will face same old issues if encroachments return to it, he said.

On this occasion, the mayor inspected development work on Tariq Road and other roads and streets in the area. He gave instructions for removal of vehicles wrongly parked on Tariq Road. He said there was no sequence of parking of vehicles on Tariq Road and this issue should be fixed.

The city mayor also met shopkeepers of Tariq Road. He said that cleaning and maintenance of Tariq Road should be done with special care. He distributed plastic bags for garbage collection to shopkeepers of Tariq Road and said that these bags should be placed at a specific place where KMC staff could lift them and dispose them.

The city mayor also visited the union club of Delhi Mercantile Cooperative Society to meet the people. He said that attention was being paid to street lights, greenery and plantation. He said, “We are paying attention to every area of the city even with limited resources and trying to solve people’s problems. We are trying to solve these problems as soon as possible,” he added.