1,850 acres of land back from encroachers

Police fire tear gas to disperse protestors in the Baldia town operation against the land mafia.

KARACHI: The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has reclaimed 1,850 acres of land worth Rs18 billion from illegal occupants under its anti-encroachment campaign, EDO revenue Roshan Ali Shaikh said on Wednesday.

While the encroachers claimed to belong to various political parties, the latter have denied all connections in the matter, Shaikh informed officers at the National Institute of Public Administration (Nipa).

The CDGK has not demolished any goths, said the DCO, adding that the government only wants to remove illegal constructions.

“We have taken action against those influential landlords who have illegally occupied government land over the past one-and-a-half years,” Shaikh added.

He said that the anti-encroachment drive was initiated on a completely “unbiased basis”, adding that a survey must be carried out to check the leases of alleged land-owners and to determine when their neighbourhoods were established.

“We are checking records on the Google maps that date back to seven years. Action will be taken against katchi abadis and small villages that have sprung up under new names within this time period,” the DCO said, who was of the belief that this was necessary as the encroachments will only expand if they are not controlled.

Neighbourhoods need to be established with proper planning and with the support of the government so that they can be supplied with proper lines for water, electricity, telephone and gas, said Shaikh.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2010.