'Bachat Bazaar' concept turned into multi-million rupees business

Profiteers Mafia has turned the concept of 'Bachat Bazaar, being arranged for the middle class citizens, into multi-million business as common man has failed to purchase his daily use essential commodities at nominally reduced rates, Business Recorder learned on Monday.
Public parks and playgrounds and streets are being routinely encroached on the pretext of 'bachat bazaars' by a mafia of profiteers, patronised by some corrupt officers of City District Government Karachi (CDGK) Enterprises and Investment Promotions (EIP) department, sources said. The purpose of 'Bachat Bazaar' was to provide relief to common man, offering him easy access to all essential commodities under single and temporary arrangements.
Sources said that CDGK has failed to achieve its annual fixed target of revenue from these Bachat Bazaars due to malpractices of corrupt officers. They said that dishonest officers of CDGK have caused stupendous losses to local government, depriving it of over 70 percent of revenue that Bachat Bazaars generate.
The staffers of the EIP had allowed the private organisers of 90 bachat bazaars to acquire land at the rate of Rs 3 per square yard. A small bachat bazaar is about 1,000 square yards, covered by 20 tents measuring 15/30 feet while a big bachat bazaar uses at least 150 tents. Thus a small bachat bazaar generates just Rs 3,000. The bachat bazaar at New Karachi Sindhi Hotel pays Rs 3,000 instead of actual fee Rs 30,000, sources said.
They said that assets and banks accounts of the CDGK EIP officers should be examined and subsequently officer who is found in corrupt practices should be suspended to prevent the department from braving colossal losses.
The policy of CDGK EIP suggested no bachat bazaar could be organised on public parks, playgrounds, private property and streets but the bachat bazaar mafia rarely fears any legal action due to involvement of police of the area and department concerned. Sources said that area police extort money from takeaway stalls and vendors of commodities on wheelbarrows allowing them to occupy some area in these Bachat Bazaars.
Presently, the profiteers mafia of bachat bazaars sell a stall to the vendors for Rs 60,000 to Rs 100,000 for a year. A newcomer can hardly get a place for the second time. He has to negotiate with the organisers for a room on regular basis. It is the organiser who decides the rates according to the nature of products, which the newcomer would bring for sale, sources said.
Presently, there are more than 130 bachat bazaars routinely organised at different venues in city. The regularly reported number of Bachat bazaars in city is around 90, of which 34 are organised at the land falling within the precincts of the CDGK while the rest are on the land of various cantonment boards.