In protest: SDA holds sit-in outside municipal corporation’s office
Sukkur Development Alliance decries municipality’s lack of action against encroachers
Sukkur Development Alliance decries municipality’s lack of action against encroachers. STOCK IMAGE
SUKKUR:
Several residents, political and social activists joined the Sukkur Development Alliance (SDA) in a sit-in outside the Sukkur Municipal Corporation's (SMC) office on Monday in protest against the increasing encroachments in the city.
Members of the Pakistan Muslim League- Functional (PML-F), Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) and others working with the SDA led by the association's chairperson Jawed Memon carried placards and banners from Sarafa Bazaar to the municipal corporation's office. They shouted slogans against the city's commissioner, deputy commissioner and municipal commissioner.
Safia Baloch of the PML-F, PTI's Dawa Khan and JSQM's Ghulam Mustafa Phulpoto condemned the civic authorities and elected representatives. They claimed that almost all the main roads in the city had been encroached upon and this was causing traffic jams.
They said that in some bazaars, shopkeepers had encroached upon the roads and municipal authorities were not doing anything about it. The political parties representatives added that the SMC took half-hearted action against the encroachers and let them take over the land again after anti-encroachment drives were conducted.
They criticised the area's elected representatives and bureaucrats, claiming that they were behind the encroachments and were selling prime real estate at throwaway prices to builders and construction companies.
SDA chairperson Jawad Memon said that Sukkur had turned into an orphaned city. "The city has two MNAs, a Senator and four MPAs but no one is interested in developing Sindh's third largest city," he said. "These encroachments are a curse and have ruined the city. They have made it impossible for commuters and pedestrians to make their way around Sukkur." He added that the SMC's anti-encroachment team was ready and had made efforts to remove encroachments but failed to do so sometimes due to political pressure.
According to Memon, the key object in forming the SDA was to wake up the elected representatives, which include Pakistan Peoples Party's Khursheed Shah, and make them do something about their hometown.
While speaking at the protest, he said that the problems of the city's residents would be taken up by the SDA. He added that the authorities had not provided a parking space in the city due to which people were forced to park their vehicle along the road. This, he said, added to the city's traffic problems. Discussing rush hour around the Clock Tower Roundabout, he said that it becomes difficult to drive and park in the area when students have to be dropped off and picked up from school.
The sit-in was called off after prayers were held for the victims of the National Highway accident in which more than 60 people died on Saturday night. Municipal commissioner Muhammad Ali Shaikh and the deputy commissioner, Shahzad Faisal, were not available for comments.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2015.
Several residents, political and social activists joined the Sukkur Development Alliance (SDA) in a sit-in outside the Sukkur Municipal Corporation's (SMC) office on Monday in protest against the increasing encroachments in the city.
Members of the Pakistan Muslim League- Functional (PML-F), Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) and others working with the SDA led by the association's chairperson Jawed Memon carried placards and banners from Sarafa Bazaar to the municipal corporation's office. They shouted slogans against the city's commissioner, deputy commissioner and municipal commissioner.
Safia Baloch of the PML-F, PTI's Dawa Khan and JSQM's Ghulam Mustafa Phulpoto condemned the civic authorities and elected representatives. They claimed that almost all the main roads in the city had been encroached upon and this was causing traffic jams.
They said that in some bazaars, shopkeepers had encroached upon the roads and municipal authorities were not doing anything about it. The political parties representatives added that the SMC took half-hearted action against the encroachers and let them take over the land again after anti-encroachment drives were conducted.
They criticised the area's elected representatives and bureaucrats, claiming that they were behind the encroachments and were selling prime real estate at throwaway prices to builders and construction companies.
SDA chairperson Jawad Memon said that Sukkur had turned into an orphaned city. "The city has two MNAs, a Senator and four MPAs but no one is interested in developing Sindh's third largest city," he said. "These encroachments are a curse and have ruined the city. They have made it impossible for commuters and pedestrians to make their way around Sukkur." He added that the SMC's anti-encroachment team was ready and had made efforts to remove encroachments but failed to do so sometimes due to political pressure.
According to Memon, the key object in forming the SDA was to wake up the elected representatives, which include Pakistan Peoples Party's Khursheed Shah, and make them do something about their hometown.
While speaking at the protest, he said that the problems of the city's residents would be taken up by the SDA. He added that the authorities had not provided a parking space in the city due to which people were forced to park their vehicle along the road. This, he said, added to the city's traffic problems. Discussing rush hour around the Clock Tower Roundabout, he said that it becomes difficult to drive and park in the area when students have to be dropped off and picked up from school.
The sit-in was called off after prayers were held for the victims of the National Highway accident in which more than 60 people died on Saturday night. Municipal commissioner Muhammad Ali Shaikh and the deputy commissioner, Shahzad Faisal, were not available for comments.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2015.