Moving forward: Urban Transport Corporation removes encroachments

Almost 5,000 houses were built on the Karachi Circular Railway land.

KARACHI:

The Karachi Urban Transport Corporation (KUTC) has removed encroachments at the resettlement site of Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) victims with the help of Pakistan Railways.

This was stated at a ministerial committee meeting on KCR held late Friday night at the Sindh Assembly. The meeting was presided over by Sindh Education Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and attended by several other officials, including Transport Minister Mumtaz Hussain Jakhrani, secretaries of revenue and transport, and deputy commissioners. The officials at the meeting said that the encroachments were removed with close coordination with Sindh government and Rangers director-general under the supervision of the superintendent of police. It was also stated that the Sindh government had cancelled the allotment of 40 acres of land allocated to private builders at the resettlement site in August 2012 and all land now belongs to the Sindh government.



The government has directed to complete the resettlement project within five years in an effort to complete the KCR project as soon as possible. According to estimates of the provincial government, almost 5,000 houses were built on the KCR land and each household will be given an 80-square-yard house with all the civic facilities available in the area.

Japan International Cooperation Agency will provide financial assistance for the resettlement project, while Karachi Urban Transport Corporation will provide Rs50,000 in financial aid to each affected family.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2014.