KARACHI: Land utilisation department of the Sindh Board of Revenue (BOR) and civil administration of Karachi West have unilaterally changed the parking site of oil tankers at deh Moachko, claimed officials of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and All Pakistan Oil Tanker Owners Association (APOTOA). According to the officials, nearly 50 acres non-class land facing main Hub River Road was allotted to KMC on directives of Supreme Court (SC) in 2015. KMC and APOTOA claimed that the land meant for parking had been earmarked on the back of the land originally allotted for the purpose. Officials of both KMC and APOTOA maintained that the earmarked land was unsuitable for parking purposes because it was uneven and hilly. They further shared that a lot of money would be required to convert the land into a parking site. According to KMC officials, the original blueprints for the location showed that oil tanker parking would be established facing the main road but the government entities were insisting that the site reserved for oil tanker parking was located at back of the land. Raza Abbas, the project director of KMC Terminal confirmed this by saying that the parking lot was to be constructed facing the main road. He said that KMC had already submitted written complaints to Karachi Commissioner, West deputy commissioner and revenue department. “Soon KMC would submit relevant documents to the SC in order to seek justice,” he shared. APOTOA vice chairman Shams Shahwani also informed Daily Times that the switch in the location of land reserved for oil tanker parking was unacceptable and if the government departments did not restore the original status of the land, the association would file a plea in the SC. Shahwani said that APOTOA and KMC had jointly consulted and already chalked out a plan for building washrooms, food, retiring, repairing workshops and other facilities at the parking site. “Muhammad Qasim, a close ally of Ali Hassan Brohi has been allotted the land originally earmarked for the parking site,” said Shahwani. Meanwhile West Deputy Commissioner Shazia Abdullah Jaffer said that some years back, possession of the land had been awarded to KMC and the civil administration had handed over the land to KMC after demarcating it a month ago. While refuting claims of KMC and APOTOA, she maintained that according to record of rights, this land had been allotted to them for oil tanker parking. Muhammad Qasim, on the other hand, filed a petition in Sindh High Court (SHC) regarding the possession of land. In his petition, the plaintiff requested the court to direct the relevant government functionaries to hand over the possession of land in question to him. In the petition, he named Land Utilisation secretary, Board of Revenue, Karachi commissioner, West peputy commissioner, West Mauripur assistant commissioner, Moachko SHO, Anti Encroachment Cell director, KMC senior land director, Mir Imran and Lyari Development Authority DG as defendant parties and claimed that they did not facilitate him officially in gaining possession of land. Allotment of land for parking purpose was made through a letter issued on October 26, 2015 by Mukhtiarkhar. The land was originally granted through a letter from commissioner office on directives from the SC on October 22, 2015. On July 12, 2017, the Land Utilisation Department allotted land to KMC for the purpose of establishing an oil tanker terminal. Around 1,200 oil tankers of private and government oil supply companies ply from Balochistan to Karachi every day. Published in Daily Times, September 15th 2018.