KARACHI: A fresh land survey of government owned and privately owned land needs to be undertaken, said officials of Sindh Board of Revenue (BOR)
The BOR officials revealed that almost all civic bodies and local government departments in the metropolis had encroached upon additional government land as well as private land.
The BOR officials said that to ascertain exactly how much land had been encroached upon, a comprehensive survey of ‘kaboli land’ (non-classified land) needed to be undertaken. They said that there was also a need to undertake a survey of land allotted to all departments before and after partition.
According to BOR officials, despite several attempts to conduct surveys in the past, including requests filed for the conduction of surveys, no steps were taken by the government to streamline the issue.
Survey and Resettlement Director Hafeez Siyal confirmed that no land survey had been conducted since 1923. “Overlapping on excess of land among different local and civic entities has created immense difficulties,” he added.
Around 641,000 acres of survey land falls in 93 dehs in Karachi. Out of these dehs, land survey was conducted in only 72 dehs under an initiative by Global Information System. Around 490,132 acres of non-classified land have not been surveyed by any authorities.
According to documents available with Daily Times around 10,515 acres of government owned land had been encroached upon by civic entities and other local government departments despite the allocation of earmarked land for the establishment of their offices.
Efforts will be made to remove encroachments as soon as possible. I have directed relevant officials to compose a report covering all aspects of the problem and submit their recommendations for its solution Sindh Minister for Revenue and Relief Makhdoom Mehboob uz Zaman
According to documents, the governmental institutions that encroached on additional land include Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Port Qasim Authority, Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Malir Cantonment, Malir Development Authority, Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and other government offices. In addition to that, nearly 29,134 acres of private land is also being used by local government offices.
According to the documents, Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Karachi Port Trust (KPT) have also grabbed over 1,079 acres of reclaimed land.
Board of Revenue for Land Utilisation member Abdul Wahad Soomro said that more than 60,000 acres of land owned by Sindh government had been encroached upon by several government and private departments. “Land grabbing is a serious issue that needs to be resolved on priority basis,” added Soomro.
Meanwhile, Sindh Minister for Revenue and Relief, Makhdoom Mehboob uz Zaman has taken notice of the issue of encroachments. He said that efforts would be made to resolve the land encroachment problem as soon as possible. The minister also directed relevant officials to compose a report covering the problem and submit their recommendations. Six Deputy Commissioners in their respective areas are also involved in efforts to eradicate encroachment.
Published in Daily Times, September 1st 2018.