Mayor takes notice of Hill Park encroachment

Wasim Akhtar suspends KMC parks deputy director

KARACHI: Mayor Wasim Akhtar took notice of encroachment at Hill Park in Karachi and suspended Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Parks Deputy Director Muhammad Nadeem on Friday.

Spread over 61 acres, the park is under administrative control of KMC and was constructed in the 1960s. It is still one of the few large recreational parks accessible to the city's 20 million citizens. What makes it stand out is the fact that it is situated on a small hill and provides an eye-catching view of its surroundings.

According to an official of the KMC, around 67 bungalows were constructed in the vicinity of the park after carving out the hill on which the park is situated. "Even restaurants were constructed illegally," the official said, adding that restaurants were already demolished by the KMC but residential houses have obtained a stay order from the Sindh High Court.



In 2011 and 2012, lease of this land was illegally made by the KMC, the official said.

Akhtar warned that the relevant official will be suspended from now on if any KMC property is encroached upon. He also alleged that the Pakistan Employees Cooperative Housing Society is illegally allotting the Hill Park land, which is under the administrative control of the KMC.

"A restaurant was being built at the Hill Park which has already been demolished," he said.

Meanwhile, talking to The Express Tribune, Nadeem said some machinery was being used Thursday morning to cut the hill at the park and when they reached the site, the encroachers were already gone. Such attempts, he said, have also been made in the past.