KARACHI - With the cold winds blowing through the city, a large number of citizens turned to buy used imported warm clothes, including blankets, comforters, shoes and other items at the Lighthouse market.
The second-hand clothing market located at the Lighthouse in Karachi has been around for years, with seasonal vendors and hawkers who sell warm clothes in the winter and school bags and other items in the summer. However, with the onset of cold winds in the city, the used second-hand clothes market has become more crowded.
The vendors said that the items in the lighthouse were imported from different countries including Korea, USA, UK, Italy and China and later containers of these items were supplied across the country. The shopkeepers complained that the number of buyers was very low while they also bargained a lot while shopping. Bilal, a shopkeeper who sell blankets and comforters, told media that his shop had second hand blankets and comforters imported from Korea with a minimum price of Rs. 500, while the maximum price was Rs. 2500.
Hakeem, another shopkeeper who worked with blankets and comforters, said that his shop also had used blankets and comforters along with new blankets and comforters. Khairullah, a roadside stall holder, said that the jackets on his stall were imported from the United States and he had bought them from the warehouses of Bihar Colony. He said he was selling jackets for Rs. 300 each. He said that he had been selling jackets since last Thursday. In summer, he sells school bags at the same place.
A buyer said he had come from Clifton to get warm winter clothes. He said that the warm clothes available here were made to suit the weather of cold countries which were very useful in the winters of Karachi. Some of the buyers said that the things were cheaper in this market so they turned to this market. Apart from the lighthouse bazaar, warm clothing stalls had also been set up in other areas. These stalls were also crowded with people, mostly motorcyclists. Shahabuddin, 55, who had set up a stall of jackets in front of the SM Law College gate, said that he had been in the business for more than 30 years.
Help desk setup to resolve issues of locked down localities
The district administration has set up a Corona Help Desk at Doctor Colony Chowk to facilitate residents of locked down areas and to resolve their complaints.
Assistant Commissioner Nawabshah, Sheraz Ahmed Laghari, would supervise the desk consisting of officials of Revenue, Police, Local Government and Health departments.
Citizens may contact or lodge complaints to the Help Desk at phone numbers 0244-9370268 and 0244-9370334.
The Deputy Commissioner Abrar Ahmed Jaffar has appealed to the masses to take the precautionary measures and strictly implement SOPs issued by the Health department and the government of Sindh including maintaining social distance and wearing masks to curtail spread of pandemic in the district.