Educate, agitate, organise: ‘Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!’

Sameer Dodhy wants Karachiites to listen to Bob Marley's song and stand up to the menace of encroachments

KARACHI: Famous Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley once sang 'Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights! Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!'

Though he didn't sing the song for the people of Karachi, non-governmental organisation (NGO) Shehri - Citizens for Better Environment's representative, Sameer Hamid Dodhy, wants Karachiites to listen to it and stand up for their rights to get rid of the menace of encroachments in the city.

He was addressing a consultative workshop, titled 'Encroachment Issues in Karachi', on Monday.

Amber Alibhai of Shehri said whoever has power in the city encroaches upon public spaces. Meanwhile, the NGO's Dr Syed Raza Ali Gardezi encroachment does not take place just on amenity spaces but it is an encroachment on one's health, wealth, life and wellbeing.



Taking lead from her colleagues, Alibhai said the subject of encroachment was not taken seriously either by the government or the citizens, and both are equally guilty.

"Playgrounds are being misused for weekly markets, ruining the grounds and depriving children of a place to play," she said, adding that we see youngsters playing on streets on Saturday nights because our grounds are encroached.

Parking scam

Dodhy spoke about how the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's (KMC) and the city government's charged parking encourages encroachment.

Terming charged parking a scam, he said the city government has assigned areas for charged parking to various contractors in the city. With this contract, said Dodhy, the contractors are allowed to take possessions of Sharae Faisal, which includes service roads on both sides from Sharae Quaideen Flyover to Karsaz Flyover, including the Lal Qila restaurant.

Dodhy pointed out that the contractor does not only charge parking fee on the spaces not assigned to him, which include side streets, but has also encroached upon the roads, where they have no jurisdiction, by putting rods and chains to block the parking space. He added that since these contractors have set a precedent, private companies are also now putting up rods and chains on the roads.



Civic responsibility

Gardezi stressed that the public should take the matter into their hands in a decent way. He asked people to take photographs of encroachments and write complaint letters to the KMC's anti-encroachment cell, police and building control authority. "Quote the violation of the relevant laws in your letter," he stressed, adding that that would add weight to the complaint and authorities won't be able to throw it into the dustbin.



He further stressed getting as many signatures as one could, adding that the letter be copied to different officials, such as the administrator, commissioner, chief minister. Don't forget to send reminders, he added.

Bylaws

Talking about the anti-encroachment laws, Gardezi stressed the need for KMC's anti-encroachment cell and the police to clamp down on encroachers.

According to the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO), 2013, he said, encroachment means unauthorised occupation of or undue interference with a street, building, land, place or premises vesting in or under the management or control of a council.

About the bane of billboards, he talked about how blatantly the municipal authorities were violating their bylaws.

The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) Advertisement and Signage Bylaws, 2003, clearly state that billboards causing environmental degradation were not allowed, said Gardezi. Any billboard, which has morally, ethically, religiously or socially obnoxious material, or hides or obscures hospitals, schools or places of worship, are not allowed, he said.



Despite invitation from Shehri to various municipalities and cantonment boards, only KMC's anti-encroachment cell director, Mazhar Khan, attended the workshop. Instead of talking about the loopholes on part of the KMC, he blamed cantonment areas, other municipalities and lack of funds and manpower, for the city's condition. He pointed out that only 31% of Karachi is under KMC's jurisdiction and they have only 15 policemen and one SHO to monitor the encroached space cleared by the KMC for the whole city.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2016.