Sindh

‘Local bodies system let land mafia flourish’

Police a patron of land grabbers, alleges revenue EDO Roshan Ali Shaikh.

Irfan Aligi February 08, 2011

KARACHI: The commissionerate system prevented the evils of land grabbing and the mafia flourished with the local government system in 2001, maintained Revenue EDO Roshan Ali Shaikh on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference at the DCO camp office, he said even though the land mafia is backed by influential people the Anti-Encroachment Cell (AEC) would not spare them.

The cell has so far evicted 3,146 acres of encroached land worth Rs17 billion. Since the establishment of the AEC, 81 members of the land mafia have been arrested and 48 FIRs registered, Sheikh said. He is also the AEC director-general. “FIRs were also registered in other police stations before the AEC police station was established.”

He alleged that the police was also a patron of land grabbers and so land can be successfully evicted from the mafia if the regular police were not involved in the operations against them. “Separate police have been inducted to ensure complete transparency in operations against the land mafia.”

Although the existing police force of 47 personnel is on deputation from the City Capital Police, we plan to recruit around 600 for the anti-encroachment force, he announced. “Land grabbing is not just about occupying land illegally. Target killings has its roots in this too,” said the EDO.

Violations in lease periods, manipulations and forgery in documents are other major concerns of the cell, Sheikh pointed out. There are 117 farm houses within the limits of the city of which seven have been demolished because the constructions were violating the law.

He informed the media that the government has decided on a heavy penalty — the market value of the retrieved land — that should be imposed on the arrested members of the mafia.

The mafia has illegally occupied land owned by the CDGK, cooperative housing societies, the defunct Karachi Development Authority and the Karachi Municipal Corporation. The AEC is giving priority to cooperative housing schemes because “these lands were for low-income groups.”

The EDO assured that the AEC police would not be affected by pressure from any authority.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2011.

COMMENTS (2)

Jbutt | 13 years ago | Reply City government was the best thing to happen to Karachi, PPP took it away.

Syed | 13 years ago | Reply Its great work if Anti Encroachment cell is clearing occupied cooperative housing schemes, but as far as my knowledge goes, 90% of these housing schemes are on Super highway, and I dont think there is any need to say further. For people Outside Karachi, I would like to add, that none of the two Nazims, Naimatullah Khan or Mustafa Kamal had any control over there, these were occupied illegally, And I highly doubt these have been cleaned , because if that was the case then history would have repeated itself and we would have seen the massacre of Orangi, via Full fledge attack from the mountains.

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