Stay continues against construction of Benazir Bhutto Township in Mirpurkhas

SHC adjourns hearing till first week of October, summons government officials

HYDERABAD: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has continued its stay against construction of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Town (SMBBT) in Mirpurkhas district over the land which hitherto belongs to an agricultural research centre.

The Hyderabad-circuit bench dismissed on Friday the plea of SMBBT and the revenue officials to vacate the stay in view of the township's importance of offering low cost housing.

Advocate Ali Palh, the counsel of petitioners Masood Ahmed Wagan and three others, objected to their prayer of withdrawing the stay order which was initially given in June, 2017. The township is trying to take into possession 78 acres out of some 282 acres of land which belongs to the Sindh Horticulture Research Institute.



The lawyer argued that the centre conducted research on vegetable and fruits and any attempt to deprive it of its land will affect the research work. He pointed out several other locations in the district where government land can be used to establish the township.

He apprised the court dozens of varieties of mangoes were grown on 70 acres and other fruits on another 37 acres. The vegetable research centre is utilising 51 acres and a livestock research centre 24 acres, among other uses of the land, he added.

The SHC adjourned the hearing till the first week of October when the officials of the concerned government departments have been summoned with the record. The SMBBT is an initiative of the Sindh government to provide low cost plots to the citizens. The scheme has been launched in Karachi, Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Thatta, Khairpur, Tando Muhammad Khan, Mirpurkhas and Dadu districts.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2018.