Survey begins at 150 katchi abadis

LAHORE: The Punjab government has started a survey of registered and unregistered katchi abadis, or squatter settlements, with the long-term aim of regularising them.

A senior official of the Local Government Department told The Express Tribune that Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani, during a cabinet session on June 30, directed the Local Government Ministry to draft a plan to collect data on and then regularise katchi abadis across the country.

He said the survey was given the go-ahead after the Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Katchi Abadis (Amendment) Bill 2009 and survey teams began collecting data on August 20.

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development hired Sempak for the survey, the official said. In the first phase, data would be collected from 150 katchi abadis in areas under the Lahore Development Authority.

The official said the survey aimed to assess the physical changes effected in katchi abadis through development programmes. “The main emphasis is to assess the changes in the layout of the settlements: construction of houses, addition of rooms, water schemes, sewerage and drainage plans, roads and utility services,” he said.

An official in the office of the Director General for Katchi Abadis, Punjab, said that various teams headed by LDA Katchi Abadi Directorate officer Tariq Javed Mirza were collecting data from six katchi abadis every day in Ramazan.

Paperwork

The survey teams have been given three forms to fill out. The first concerns the geographical demarcation of katchi abadis, their location, total size, number of houses, number of residents, date of regularisation, date of transfer to the LDA or a tehsil municipal administration, and number of people who have or have not been awarded ownership of the land in their possession.

The second form asks for information about utilities and infrastructure including roads, waterlines, sewage and drainage pipes, gas and electricity. It also asks about health and education infrastructure, like where the closest government dispensary is. It asks questions about empty plots, unconstructed spaces, worship places and graveyards as well.

The third form asks for information about businesses and trade in the katchi abadis and about encroachments.

NGOs demand more

Representatives of the Women Workers’ Help Line (WWHL) and the Joint Action Committee for Katchi Abadis said that there were over 3,000 katchi abadis in Pakistan in 2003 with a population of approximately seven million people. In 1985 there were 2,302 katchi abadis with a population of 5.5 million. They did not have more up to date figures, but said this showed that the number of people living in katchi abadis was increasing.

The government made a considerable effort from 1985 to 1990 and in 2006 to address the issue of katachi abadis, but they mostly took “short-sighted measures” aimed at gaining political mileage, they said. “The issue was never addressed in the broader context of housing for the poor.”

They demanded that the government give ownership rights to residents of all katchi abadis and provide alternative housing for the residents of settlements that had been demolished.

“All katchi abadis should be provided with basic amenities, including electricity, water, sewerage, education and health facilities. Katchi abadi residents should be provided with three-marla plots each. The government should build residential flats for low-income families within one year,” they said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2010.