The foundation head said these tactics were forcing them to limit their services in areas where their centres are being encroached upon or forcefully shut down. PHOTO: NNI
“The land mafia and district administration – including police – are stopping the Edhi Foundation from delivering humanitarian services in several districts of the province,” said Faisal Edhi, the son of the late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi.
Faisal was speaking at a news conference in Karachi on Wednesday where his mother and window of Edhi, Bilqees Edhi, was also present.
The Edhi Welfare Centre in Thatta has been occupied by the land mafia and police, Faisal claimed, adding that the district administration has closed the centre to cover up the land grab.
He called upon Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to take notice of the situation.
“The Thatta Centre was set up in 1985 on a piece of land provided by the National Highway Authority and we have the allotment letter,” said Faisal.
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“Some people have come up with documents forged in 1994, after the Edhi Centre plot was included in a land survey following the expansion of the city,” he explained.
“Most Edhi Centres in rural Sindh are being encroached upon by the land mafia and the local administration is conniving with them by issuing them forged documents,” he claimed.
He said these tactics were forcing the foundation to limit its services in the areas where their centres are being encroached upon or forcefully shut down.
Fasial said the ambulance service was still operational in Thatta but they were unable to contact their employees after the closure of the centre, which is spread over 1,000 square yards.
Edhi Foundation Spokesperson Anwar Kazmi told The Express Tribune that Thatta was the first city after Karachi where Edhi had expanded the foundation’s services to in 1980.
The Thatta centre is not the only one facing encroachments. Faisal said the Edhi Welfare Centre Moro has also been encroached upon by the land mafia and a market has been constructed on its 3,000 square yards plot, whereas the Edhi Welfare Centres in Qazi Ahmed and Hala have been illegally occupied and shops set up on their land.
Faisal added that the Edhi Welfare Centre in Sehwan has also been occupied by land grabbers, whereas in Larkana, the land mafia has locked the centre.
The Edhi Centre in Hyderabad’s Latifabad area has also been occupied by the land mafia, he claimed.
“The Edhi Foundation is committed to continuing its services in makeshift tents if the administration doesn’t take action against the land grabbers,” he said, refuting claims in the electronic media of the centres being shut down and services suspended.
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