‘Illegal constructions’ allowed to encroach upon the city’s land yet again

Builder mafia has its way with the city, allegedly with the consent of senior SBCA officials

KARACHI: Karachi has long been plagued by the menace of encroachments and illegal constructions. Recently though, Supreme Court Justice Gulzar Ahmed took notice of the matter and several illegal constructions were rapidly razed by the relevant authorities. It did not take long, however, for errant government officials to collude with the builder mafia and allow illegal constructions began encroaching upon the city's land yet again. The city's water and sewerage woes will only worsen if the matter goes unnoticed.

A group of senior officials of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) knowingly look the other way as the builder mafia initiates yet another series of illegal constructions in the city without officially approved construction plans. Construction on sites which are first sealed off is later allowed after bribes are collected by errant officers and the process is then manipulated to portray the constructions as 'legal'.

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Sources reveal that senior SBCA officials have leased out coveted areas of the city and the authority's Director-General Zafar Ahsan appears to be helpless in front of the corrupt officials. They allege that one such official of the SCBA, Mushtaq Soomro, has enabled the builder mafia to construct unapproved floors in buildings in exchange of millions of rupees - around Rs4m toRs 8m they claim. According to the sources, other officials connive with Soomro on the matter while the Sindh government also seems to turn a blind eye. It appears that Soomro is the one actually heading the authority as appointments and transfers of SBCA officials are made on his directives.

Other senior officials of the authority have reportedly appealed to the National Accountability Bureau and the anti-corruption department to take notice of the matter.

Areas which are allegedly being affected by illegal constructions of the builder mafia include Surjani Town, Jamshed Town, Scheme 33, Saddar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulberg, North Karachi, Nazimabad and others.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2019.