Housing scam: Families watch lifelong savings being razed to the ground
Building constructed on illegal land in North Nazimabad is being demolished on court orders.
KARACHI:
Nearly 12 families will watch their lifelong saving being razed to the ground today when the anti-encroachment taskforce carries out court orders to demolish illegal constructions.
New Way Apartments, a four-storey building in North Nazimabad’s Block W, right across Paposh Nagar graveyard, was found to be one of the several illegal constructions carried out by the land mafia. As the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) kicks off its drive against such buildings and families that were duped into buying apartments will helplessly watch their homes crumble into debris.
“I swear when the builder gave us the apartment I did not know it was illegal plotting as the builder had all the legal documents,” claimed Ryaz Ahmed, one of the residents of the apartments built over a 360-yard plot.
The families learned on Tuesday that they had to vacate their home where they had been living for four years. They received court orders that the building will be demolished on Friday as it has been illegally constructed on an amenity plot. By Wednesday, the authorities had started demolition work of the shops located on the ground floor and the apartment balconies. The main structure will, however, be demolished today.
“I bought a flat from a builder worth Rs1.6 million and now I am standing on the road with my entire family,” Ahmed pointed out. Visibly upset, Ahmed recalled the builder telling the residents that he was associated with a political party which made them trust him in the first place. “Should I commit suicide in front of the press club or ask local politicians to intervene?”
Meanwhile, KMC’s anti-encroachment taskforce insists they are following court orders that prove the building is an illegal construction on an amenity plot. “The Sindh High Court issued an order in 2010 in which a petitioner claimed the project was built at plots that were allotted for a parking facility for adjacent projects,” the taskforce’s senior director, Bilal Manzar told The Express Tribune. He added that it was unfortunate that the families were fooled into investing in this project.
“This project is completely illegal,” pointed out North Nazimabad Town’s in-charge of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) Adil Umer, while talking to The Express Tribune. “The people are bearing the fruits of ‘china cutting’ as they were fooled into buying property without knowing its actual status.” The phrase, china cutting, is used for plots illegally constructed on amenity plots.
Umer pointed out that several known multinationals have opened their franchises on plots that are illegally procured through ‘china cutting’. He gave the example of the encroachments on a traffic police island near the Matric Board Office.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2014.
Nearly 12 families will watch their lifelong saving being razed to the ground today when the anti-encroachment taskforce carries out court orders to demolish illegal constructions.
New Way Apartments, a four-storey building in North Nazimabad’s Block W, right across Paposh Nagar graveyard, was found to be one of the several illegal constructions carried out by the land mafia. As the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) kicks off its drive against such buildings and families that were duped into buying apartments will helplessly watch their homes crumble into debris.
“I swear when the builder gave us the apartment I did not know it was illegal plotting as the builder had all the legal documents,” claimed Ryaz Ahmed, one of the residents of the apartments built over a 360-yard plot.
The families learned on Tuesday that they had to vacate their home where they had been living for four years. They received court orders that the building will be demolished on Friday as it has been illegally constructed on an amenity plot. By Wednesday, the authorities had started demolition work of the shops located on the ground floor and the apartment balconies. The main structure will, however, be demolished today.
“I bought a flat from a builder worth Rs1.6 million and now I am standing on the road with my entire family,” Ahmed pointed out. Visibly upset, Ahmed recalled the builder telling the residents that he was associated with a political party which made them trust him in the first place. “Should I commit suicide in front of the press club or ask local politicians to intervene?”
Meanwhile, KMC’s anti-encroachment taskforce insists they are following court orders that prove the building is an illegal construction on an amenity plot. “The Sindh High Court issued an order in 2010 in which a petitioner claimed the project was built at plots that were allotted for a parking facility for adjacent projects,” the taskforce’s senior director, Bilal Manzar told The Express Tribune. He added that it was unfortunate that the families were fooled into investing in this project.
“This project is completely illegal,” pointed out North Nazimabad Town’s in-charge of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) Adil Umer, while talking to The Express Tribune. “The people are bearing the fruits of ‘china cutting’ as they were fooled into buying property without knowing its actual status.” The phrase, china cutting, is used for plots illegally constructed on amenity plots.
Umer pointed out that several known multinationals have opened their franchises on plots that are illegally procured through ‘china cutting’. He gave the example of the encroachments on a traffic police island near the Matric Board Office.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2014.