Anti-encroachment operation: No you cantt, says Clifton to builder mafia. Not any more
Illegal shops and buildings being targeted for two weeks.
CBC officials razed ‘illegal’ shops at Delhi Colony on Saturday. PHOTO: MOHAMMAD AZEEM/EXPRESS
KARACHI:
To an eerie silence, the Cantonment Board Clifton ripped out seven shops it said were illegal, on the edge of Delhi Colony Sunday afternoon. Gawkers milled around the destruction at Khayaban-e-Roomi as the Rangers and police lazily waved traffic past.
“There was no resistance during the operation,” said cantonment spokesperson Amir Arab Ali. “We have identified all locations and plan to stop new illegal construction.” The work will continue for about 15 days more in different areas. He said that all builders were being told to stop this kind of work or remove the encroachments themselves otherwise the CBC team would oblige. The cantonment board had earlier asked law enforcement personnel to conduct an operation several times against the builder mafia, but the response had been slow.
Clifton cantonment is spread over 52 square kilometers, roughly 1.4% of Karachi. It covers eight DHA phases and 13 katchi abadis. According to an independent estimate from one real estate dealer, there are about 2,500 illegal multi-storey buildings in these areas.
The cantonment board’s president, Brigadier Farrukh Waseem, and Chief Executive Officer Adil Rafi Siddiqui gave the orders for the operation that will also target Delhi Colony and the space under the Gizri flyover. Large chunks have been illegally taken over by ‘influential’ men, especially in Phase I. Part of this has been abetted by allegedly corrupt officers in the cantonment board itself.
CEO Adil Rafi felt that the involvement of lower staff couldn’t be ruled out. “Some black sheep in the CBC are giving the permission for the construction,” he told The Express Tribune. He added that a nexus of criminal gangs backed by political groups were providing back-up so that illegal high-rise buildings could go up.
The bhatta goes to one particular political party and a cantonment official. If you want to put up one level, you need to pay Rs25,000 in a bribe. And so on. If you have a five-storey building you have to split a bribe of Rs500,000 between the low-ranking officials and the political party thugs. The officials don’t directly accept the bribe, but it is taken by their ‘beaters’ or middlemen, said one builder.
“Millions of rupees are filling the pockets of corrupt officials,” alleged a real estate dealer, who operates in the DHA area, Muhammad Shafi Jakvani. “These officials, after taking bribes from the builder mafia, give permission to construct the high-rise buildings.” They are putting up ground-plus-eight buildings on 40 square yard plots.
He questioned how the CBC was allowing this illegal construction but when it came to someone breaking even an inside wall of their house they pounced on them.
Saad Electronics doing plasma TV repairs, run by Mehmood Khan, was targeted in the Sunday operation that lasted from about 1pm to 5pm. He claimed, however, that his shop was leased and legal and that the cantonment board said it would rebuild it. Khan added that the other shops for plastic furniture and carpentry and woodwork were not legal. This could not be independently verified.
Property dealer Waseem Raza, who operates in Delhi Colony, Punjab Colony and Chandio village, also said that money exchanged hands. “During the construction an official of the CBC comes to the builder’s office and receives a big bribe to close his eyes for the construction of a multi-story building,” he maintained.
The builder mafia violates building by-laws by covering what are supposed to be compulsory open spaces. Comprehensive details of what is permitted are specified in the Cantonment Board Clifton By-Laws 2007. The board’s website also clearly lists what kind of procedures and paperwork need to be followed (<https://cbc.gov.pk>).
Published in The Express Tribune, January 27th, 2014.
To an eerie silence, the Cantonment Board Clifton ripped out seven shops it said were illegal, on the edge of Delhi Colony Sunday afternoon. Gawkers milled around the destruction at Khayaban-e-Roomi as the Rangers and police lazily waved traffic past.
“There was no resistance during the operation,” said cantonment spokesperson Amir Arab Ali. “We have identified all locations and plan to stop new illegal construction.” The work will continue for about 15 days more in different areas. He said that all builders were being told to stop this kind of work or remove the encroachments themselves otherwise the CBC team would oblige. The cantonment board had earlier asked law enforcement personnel to conduct an operation several times against the builder mafia, but the response had been slow.
Clifton cantonment is spread over 52 square kilometers, roughly 1.4% of Karachi. It covers eight DHA phases and 13 katchi abadis. According to an independent estimate from one real estate dealer, there are about 2,500 illegal multi-storey buildings in these areas.
The cantonment board’s president, Brigadier Farrukh Waseem, and Chief Executive Officer Adil Rafi Siddiqui gave the orders for the operation that will also target Delhi Colony and the space under the Gizri flyover. Large chunks have been illegally taken over by ‘influential’ men, especially in Phase I. Part of this has been abetted by allegedly corrupt officers in the cantonment board itself.
CEO Adil Rafi felt that the involvement of lower staff couldn’t be ruled out. “Some black sheep in the CBC are giving the permission for the construction,” he told The Express Tribune. He added that a nexus of criminal gangs backed by political groups were providing back-up so that illegal high-rise buildings could go up.
The bhatta goes to one particular political party and a cantonment official. If you want to put up one level, you need to pay Rs25,000 in a bribe. And so on. If you have a five-storey building you have to split a bribe of Rs500,000 between the low-ranking officials and the political party thugs. The officials don’t directly accept the bribe, but it is taken by their ‘beaters’ or middlemen, said one builder.
“Millions of rupees are filling the pockets of corrupt officials,” alleged a real estate dealer, who operates in the DHA area, Muhammad Shafi Jakvani. “These officials, after taking bribes from the builder mafia, give permission to construct the high-rise buildings.” They are putting up ground-plus-eight buildings on 40 square yard plots.
He questioned how the CBC was allowing this illegal construction but when it came to someone breaking even an inside wall of their house they pounced on them.
Saad Electronics doing plasma TV repairs, run by Mehmood Khan, was targeted in the Sunday operation that lasted from about 1pm to 5pm. He claimed, however, that his shop was leased and legal and that the cantonment board said it would rebuild it. Khan added that the other shops for plastic furniture and carpentry and woodwork were not legal. This could not be independently verified.
Property dealer Waseem Raza, who operates in Delhi Colony, Punjab Colony and Chandio village, also said that money exchanged hands. “During the construction an official of the CBC comes to the builder’s office and receives a big bribe to close his eyes for the construction of a multi-story building,” he maintained.
The builder mafia violates building by-laws by covering what are supposed to be compulsory open spaces. Comprehensive details of what is permitted are specified in the Cantonment Board Clifton By-Laws 2007. The board’s website also clearly lists what kind of procedures and paperwork need to be followed (<https://cbc.gov.pk>).
Published in The Express Tribune, January 27th, 2014.