SUKKUR: Hundreds of residents who had booked plots in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, the only housing scheme initiated by the Sukkur taluka municipal administration around 30 years ago, have lost their investment to the land mafia.
In 1975, the taluka municipal administration started a housing scheme near Numaish ground, Old Sukkur. At least 2,833 plots, measuring 400 square yards, 240 square yards and 120 square yards, were allotted to people through draws in 1980, 1981 and 1982.
While several people booked plots under the scheme, none of them dared to start construction because of the terrible law and order situation in the area.
To make matters worse, the municipal administration did not erect a boundary wall around the scheme, which allowed the land mafia to take over several plots. When some of the owners built walls to secure their plots, the walls were razed to the ground and the gates were stolen.
The scheme was neglected further because the administration did not start laying down infrastructure such as water pipelines, drainage, electricity and roads. Even the plots reserved for a school, hospital, mosque and park are still vacant.
Lost records
The problems with the scheme continued to pile up as more than one person is now claiming ownership to a single plot. When these people visited the municipal office, they were told that the relevant records were burnt in December 2007, during the riots after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. People, however, alleged that those who bribe officials manage to get proper documents for their plots.
Although the municipal office was attacked and set on fire during the riots, the record room had remained untouched.
According to informed sources, some municipal officials are taking advantage of lawlessness in the area and are helping the mafia by preparing fake documents of the plots.
“Most of the plots are now occupied by the mafia, who are living there after constructing houses while the real owners don’t dare visit the site since they know they can’t fight with the criminals,” they added.
Jurisdiction warfare
Around five years ago, Sukkur city was divided into two talukas, Sukkur city and New Sukkur. The law dictates that Gulshan-e-Iqbal comes under the jurisdiction of New Sukkur taluka, but the officials of Sukkur city delayed handing over records to them on one pretext or the other.
Sukkur TMA land grant department’s chief Sikandar Channa confirmed that a land mafia was operating in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. He denied, however, that TMA officials were involved in the encroachment.
He was of the view that due to the high crime rate in the area, people chose not to construct houses and were instead selling off their plots. He also confirmed that no school, hospital, mosque or park have been constructed there and the plots are vacant. When asked about handing over the records to the New Sukkur TMA, he replied the documents will be given to them “in a couple of days”.
Sukkur city taluka administrator Abdul Shakoor Mahar also denied that the municipal staff was in cahoots with the land mafia. “Plots in Gulshan-e-Iqbal are being sold from one person to the other. What’s worse is that a single plot is being sold to two or three people!” he alleged.
Meanwhile, the administrator for New Sukkur taluka, Yar Mohammad Junejo, told The Express Tribune that he had been complaining about this problem for the last five years. Now finally, the Sukkur DCO has ordered the Sukkur city taluka to hand over the records. “I have heard about large-scale tampering with the records, especially in the case of the Gulshan-e-Iqbal house scheme,” he said. “Let’s see what they are giving to us.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 23rd, 2010.
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