Occupied no more: Original allottees get their plots back

KDA assures owners of starting development work ‘soon’

KARACHI: A ceremony by the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) to hand over possession to allottees of Gulistan-e-Jauhar, block six, scheme 35, on Sunday turned sour when the allottees blamed the KDA of delaying possession and demarcation of their plots.

According to KDA's executive engineer, Syed Aurangzeb Ali, in 1979, the revenue board handed over a huge piece of land in block six to the KDA which was then transferred to individuals through balloting.

In the balloting process, there were 402 plots of various categories, which included plots from 420 square yards to 600 square yards, he informed. Later, according to one of the legal allotees, Muhammad Ismail Shaheedi, who claimed to have received the plot through balloting in 1985, the land was occupied under the Sindh Goth Abad Scheme with the consent of the Sindh Board of Revenue by land grabbers.  In 2015, Ali said that the Supreme Court cancelled all the stay orders on the land and asked all the encroachers to vacate the land so it could be transferred to the original allottees.

The land has commercial, residential and amenity plots on it, which were all possessed by land grabbers, claimed Ali.

Meanwhile, addressing the allotees, KDA director-general Syed Nasir Abbas said the original allottees had lost all hope in getting possession of their plots back, but it was due to the Supreme Court's decision that the land has been vacated from the 'land mafia'.

He said that all the plots have been demarcated and the owners of those plots have been informed about the development. For now, Abbas said, the KDA does not have the resources to lay utility lines in the area. For this purpose, he asked the legal allottees to help the KDA and also deploy guards on their land so that no one again grabs their plots.

While Abbas was delivering his speech, Shaheedi chipped in, saying that during the course of trial, KDA's lawyers did not show up frequently to defend their claims. He said that they were ready to construct their houses on the plots but the KDA should at least make proper infrastructure in the area.

Another allottee at the ceremony, who did not want his name on the record, said it has been more than thirty years but no development work has been carried out by the KDA or the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation in the area. The allottee said that whosoever dares to start construction of their house, he or she starts receiving threats from various influential individuals. The allottee asked why the KDA cannot file an FIR against such culprits.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2016.