Govt pauses anti-encroachment drive

Provincial govt spokesman says bringing ordinance for the purpose

KARACHI:

Sindh government has decided to stop anti-encroachment operation across the province, Sindh Government Spokesman Murtuza Wahab on Wednesday.

"The anti-encroachment operation from Karachi to Kashmore will be temporarily suspended," Karachi Administrator Wahab told the media at a press conference held at the Sindh Assembly Committee Room.

The Sindh government has prepared an ordinance to stop the anti-encroachment operation. A commission will be set up under the ordinance to determine which illegal structures should not be demolished, he said addressing the news conference.

The ordinance named Sindh Commission for Regulation of Construction will be applicable for the whole province. The Sindh government has sent the ordinance to the governor for approval under Article 128 of the Constitution, Wahab said.

The commission will work under a retired judge of the Supreme Court and will decide on which illegal structures can be regularised. The ordinance will not be applicable to areas under the jurisdiction of the federal government and cantonments, the administrator said.

Wahab claimed that the commercialisation of residential areas took place in last several months, adding that it started from the regime of Naimatullah Khan as City Nazim. "When the citizens approached the courts against it (commercialisation), it was decided (by the court) that it is the prerogative of the city government," he added.

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Now that many areas have been commercialised, the consequences are being felt today. "The underground system of sewerage and water was not developed at par with the rapid commercialiasation of the residential neighbourhods," he said.

This problem has spread all over Pakistan. Societies have been formed on agricultural land in Islamabad. It is asked that the building (Nasla Tower) is being demolished but why it is not happening in Bani Gala in Islamabad," he added.

He said that the PPP passed a resolution in the Sindh Assembly on the issue of anti-encroachment drive and urged the need of legislation so as to reduce miseries of the citizens. He said that those who held press conferences on Nasla Tower issue had 'escaped' from the Sindh Assembly.

He said that the law is the same in Sindh as it is in Punjab but only a paragraph was added that the anti-encroachment drive should be stopped immediately until the committee decides.

In a reply, he said that Sindh government is not allotting land for Nasla Tower as Sindhi Muslim Cooperative Housing Society was not its administrative control. This property was commercialised in 2007 at that time Mustafa Kamal was the City Nazim," he said.

After commercialisation, the building control authority gave permission for construction. The land actually belonged to KMC and in 2000, the court ruled that the land was given to Sindhi Muslim Cooperative Housing Society in exchange for money.

In response to a question, Wahab said that Mustafa Kamal wanted him to say something so that he could reply. "This is not Karachi of 1990, this is not Karachi of May 12, 2007.

He also asked MQM-P Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui to stop the politics of ethnicity. Wahab asked MQM-P that it had been in the coalition federal government for three and a half years and what has Imran Khan done for this city.

Wahab reminded Siddiqui that when they were coalition partners, MQM-P had threatned to quit PPP-led government over fuel price hike.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2021.