SHC seeks report on encroachment near M9

DC says 2022 flood victims in relief camps there unwilling to go back

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the Nazir on Tuesday to conduct an inspection and submit a comprehensive report, including photographs, within seven days in response to a petition seeking the removal of encroachment along the M9 Superhighway, spanning from Al Asif Square to Toll Plaza.

A two-member bench, led by Justice Nadeem Akhtar, presided over the hearing. The petitioner’s counsel contested the accuracy and credibility of the East District Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) report, claiming it misrepresented the removal of encroachments around Al Asif Square.

Read also: Anti-encroachment drive expanded

The DC East, in the report, asserted that encroachments had been eliminated from Jamali Bridge to Badshah Hotel, and both sides of the stretch from Al Asif Square to Habib Hotel were cleared. An ongoing anti-encroachment campaign was also highlighted.

The administrative head of the East district informed the court that individuals displaced by the 2022 floods initially resided in relief camps near M9 Toll Plaza but later established shanty towns in the city. The DC stated that these individuals have been evicted.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2024.