Sindh Assembly: MPAs question allotment of land to DHA and Rangers

Revenue minister doesn’t know why DHA is selling land it doesn’t own.

KARACHI:

The facts may have been in black and white but they still made for raised eyebrows and pointed questions as details of land allotment in Sindh from the 1990s and 2000s came tumbling out.

MPAs questioned the government over the rates on which land had been allotted to the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and the paramilitary Rangers force.

The issue, which was discussed during the Sindh Assembly’s question hour on Saturday, also brought forth two revelations: the government gave land to the Rangers for free, while DHA has reportedly not paid the instalments for the land it leased.

Sindh Minister for Revenue Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar fielded questions from the MPAs, filling in for Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, who has the portfolio of the land utilisation department.

How can DHA sell?

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Heer Ismail Soho asked whether the land allotted to DHA in Karachi and Hyderabad was on leasehold or freehold basis.

Dahar said that the Sindh government allotted around 11,640.25 acres in Deh Khadeji and Abdar off Super Highway in 2005 at Rs100,000 per acre. In 1992, the government allotted 282 acres of land in Deh Drigh Road, Karachi, at a cost of Rs.5.3 million per acre. He, however, said that no land had been allotted to DHA in Hyderabad.

MQM MPA Sardar Ahmed then asked about the money owed by DHA to the Sindh government for the land allotted to it. Ahmed highlighted that DHA has not paid its installments, and was instead busy selling the plots from the land. Referring to the agreement between the Sindh government and DHA, he said that it had been decided that ownership rights would not be given to DHA until it cleared all dues. “On one hand, DHA got the land at a very low price and on the other it has delayed the payment. I wonder why ownership rights have been given to DHA.”

Ahmed said that vast tracts of land had been given to the federal government and its agencies in Hyderabad, Sukkur and Pannu Aqil but the federal government has not paid what it owes. According to Ahmed, the Sindh government had asked the federal government 10 years ago to either pay up or adjust the amount in the Sindh government’s debt to the federal government.

Dahar said that DHA had paid two instalments for the land at Super Highway, and clarified that the government had not given full ownership rights to DHA. However, he was not able to explain why DHA was selling plots on that land.

Rangers gets a free run

The Rangers was given around 50 acres of land in Deh Mochko for free for a firing range.

Given the Rangers’ presence in the province for the past few decades, in 1995, the wing commander of 41 Wing Sachal Rangers had also requested for 34.15 acres of land in Deh Khari Lakhi, Karachi for operational use. The land was given at the rate of Rs9,680 per acre.

In 1996, the DG Rangers asked for the 440 acres of land it had been given for permanent construction to be cancelled, and asked for alternate land near Toll Plaza, Steel Mill and Dhabeji to build residential accommodation. Fifty acres was given to the Rangers in Deh Kotirero on a 99-year lease at the rate of Rs2 per square yard.

Clarifying issues

The Sindh government also clarified another issue on Saturday. According to the minister, land reclaimed from the sea is the property of the Sindh government. Based on questions from MPAs over the land allotted to DHA in Karachi – 282 acres - Dahar said he had asked for this to be rechecked because the figure did not appear to be correct.

Published In The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2012.